LANSING, Mich. — The portrayal of a young Asian woman speaking broken English in a Super Bowl ad being run by U.S. Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra against Michigan incumbent Debbie Stabenow is bringing charges of racial insensitivity. 
 
 GOP consultant Nick De Leeuw flat-out scolded the Holland Republican for the ad. 
 
 "Stabenow has got to go. But shame on Pete Hoekstra for that appalling new advertisement," De Leeuw wrote on his Facebook page Sunday morning. "Racism and xenophobia aren't any way to get things done." 
 
 The nonpartisan Asian & Pacific Islander American Vote group's Michigan chapter said it was "deeply disappointed" by the ad, noting that the Asian-American community is a major contributor to Michigan's economy. In 2010, Michigan's 236,490 Asian-Americans made up 2.4 percent of the state's population, up 35 percent from 2000. 
 
 "It is very disturbing that Mr. Hoekstra's campaign chose to use harmful negative stereotypes that intrinsically encourage anti-Asian sentiment," the group said in a statement. 
 
 Hoekstra campaign spokesman Paul Ciaramitaro said the ad is meant to be satirical. Hoekstra's Facebook page, which by early evening was getting a barrage of criticism on the ad, snapped back that those "trying to make this an issue of race demonstrates their total ignorance of job creation policies." On YouTube, the ratings buttons on the ad were disabled after it aired. 
 
 "Democrats talk about race when they can't defend their records," Ciaramitaro said. "The U.S. economy is losing jobs to China because of Stabenow's reckless spending policies. China is reaping the reward." 
 
 The 30-second ad was filmed in California and never mentions China directly. It opens with the sound of a gong and shows a young Asian woman riding a bike on a narrow path lined by rice paddies. 
 
 Stopping her bike, the woman smiles into the camera and says, "Thank you, Michigan Senator Debbie Spenditnow. Debbie spends so much American money. You borrow more and more from us. Your economy get very weak. Ours get very good. We take your jobs. Thank you, Debbie Spenditnow." 
 
 The scene then shifts to Hoekstra telling viewers near a cozy fire, "I think this race is between Debbie Spenditnow and Pete Spenditnot." 
 
 The Hoekstra campaign set up a website, , that features the ad and includes Chinese writing, paper lanterns, parade dragons and Stabenow's face on a Chinese fan. It accuses the Democratic senator of "pouring American dollars into the Chinese economy." http://www.DebbieSpendItNow.com 
 
 Democrats were quick to challenge the premise of the ad, referring to Hoekstra's 18 years in the U.S. House and the fact that he joined a Washington-based law and lobbying firm last year. 
 
 "Hoekstra's ad is nothing more than a hypocritical attempt at a Hollywood-style makeover because the fact is, Pete spends a lot," Michigan Democratic Chairman Mark Brewer said. "Hoekstra voted for the $700 billion Wall Street bailout and voted for trillions more in deficit spending before quitting Congress to get rich at a Washington, D.C. lobbying firm." 
 
 Hoekstra GOP Senate rival Gary Glenn of Midland struck a similar theme. 
 
 "Saving America from the Washington, D.C., politicians who gave us this crippling debt and deficit crisis, Republican and Democrat alike, means Hoekstra and Stabenow should both get benched," Glenn said in a release. 
 
 In response to the Hoekstra ad, the state Democratic Party launched a website, hoekstrahoax.com, as well as a 60-second Web ad Sunday that shows a 2010 campaign ad run against Hoekstra by GOP gubernatorial rival Mike Cox. 
 
 Hoekstra's hoping to get the same bump from his ad that now-Gov. Rick Snyder got with his 2010 Super Bowl ad portraying himself as "one tough nerd." Both ads were created by media strategist Fred Davis of California-based Strategic Perception Inc. 
 
 The new ad is a twist on the anti-Republican "moving jobs to China" theme that Michigan Democrats successfully used against 2006 GOP gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos and tried to use against Snyder in 2010. This time, the focus isn't on Republican businessmen sending jobs to China but on what Hoekstra says is Democratic overspending that has weakened the U.S. economy. 
 
 Stabenow, who's running for a third term, has pushed for trade policies aimed at China that impose duties and penalties on countries that manipulate their currency and penalize companies that steal intellectual property from U.S. companies. She's using the Hoekstra ad to raise money for her campaign, which already has nearly $6 million on hand. 
 
 Hoekstra's campaign is spending $75,000 to air the ad statewide Sunday. It aired in the Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo areas before the Super Bowl began and during the game in the Traverse City, Flint, Lansing and Marquette media markets, the campaign said. 
 
 The ad is set to run over the next two weeks on cable TV shows targeted at GOP voters. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Follow Kathy Barks Hoffman at http://twitter.com/kathybhoffman ||||| Pete Hoekstra defended his controversial Superbowl ad featuring a young Asian woman speaking broken English, saying it has yielded an "overwhelmingly positive response" and should only offend Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow. 
 
 Speaking on a conference call Monday morning with reporters, the Michigan Republican Senate candidate pushed back at widening criticism that the ad is insensitive or mean-spirited. 
 
 “We knew we were taking an aggressive approach on this, but this is a time when the people of Michigan and across the country are fed up with the spending," he said. “It hits Debbie smack dab between the eyes where she is vulnerable with the voters of Michigan. I’m excited . . . it has jump started the debate.” 
 
 Hoekstra said the ad does not criticize the Chinese, but instead points out the strength of an international competitor that is benefiting from America's declining economic status. 
 
 “The ad is only insensitive to Debbie Stabenow and her spending," he said. 
 
 When asked by a Michigan-based reporter if the ad was the sign of a "nastier" campaign strategy, the former congressman replied, “This is not a nasty Hoekstra at all. This is about as fact-checked and accurate you can get." 
 
 Hoekstra did not respond directly to a question about whether he could have made the same point without using the woman riding a bike near rice paddies and speaking in broken English. 
 
 “The point is not to raise eyebrows for eyebrows sake," he said. “What we have said is what the American people feel . . ." 
 
 Since the ad hit the airwaves Sunday, criticism from even Republicans has intensified. 
 
 The Associated Press quotes GOP consultant Nick De Leeuw skewering the commercial as "appalling." 
 
 Republican consultant Mike Murphy tweeted Sunday night that Hoekstra's ad was "really, really dumb." 
 
 Steve Frye, the online editor of the Oakland Press, came to a more dramatic conclusion, tweeting Monday morning, "Sen. Debbie Stabenow, let me be among the first to congratulate you on your reelection." 
 
 Hoekstra's chief rival for the GOP nomination, school charter advocate Clark Durant, took aim at Hoekstra's congressional record in critiquing the ad, but did not comment on the uproar over the approach. 
 
 “I ask you,” Durant writes in a letter to GOP leaders. “Can Pete Hoekstra, a big-spending, debt-increasing, Republican career politician beat Debbie Stabenow, a big-spending, debt-increasing Democrat career politician?" ||||| The presidential candidate responds to a report about debilitating headaches, and her staff ceizes a reporter trying to dig deeper; Obama praises the Gang of Six; Brown leads Warren in an internal poll; and Hoekstra will challenge Stabenow. 
 
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– A US Senate candidate sounded upbeat today after his Chinese-themed ad in broken English triggered accusations of racism, the Huffington Post reports. "I’m excited," Michigan GOP contender Pete Hoekstra told Politico. "It has jump-started the debate.” The ad shows a Chinese woman biking through rice fields and thanking Hoekstra's rival—Democratic incumbent Debbie Stabenow—for borrowing excessive amounts of money from China. "Your economy get very weak," she says. "Ours get very good. We take your jobs. Thank you, Debbie 'Spend-it-Now.'" Hoekstra's campaign also launched a website that includes Chinese writing and Stabenow's face on a Chinese fan. Even a GOP consultant lashed out in response, saying "shame on Pete Hoekstra for that appalling new advertisement," and a non-partisan Asian group accused him of trying to "encourage anti-Asian sentiment." As for Democrats, they set up a website accusing Hoekstra of hypocrisy.