Democratic U.S. House candidate Peter Welch will start airing his second television ad today. The campaign has purchased $30,000 in ads this week on WCAX, WPTZ and local cable, spokesman Andrew Savage said.

This ad features the acting debut of Pepper, Welch's dog, who is shown riding with the candidate as he tours Vermont. (Don't tell the sergeant-at-arms, but Pepper is the dog who sometimes hunkered down in the pro tem's office in the Statehouse but was wise enough not to bark and give away his presence.)

"Send a Republican to Washington and you'll give George Bush one more vote in Congress and get the same failed policies on health care and energy prices. Send me and we're going to take America in a new direction," Welch says in the ad, before telling Pepper to move out of the driver's seat.

The ad, like Welch's first one that featured his late wife, Joan Smith, is clearly meant to show Welch at his most human. The ad is supposed to be up on the campaign Web site later today: http://welchforcongress.com

Republican opponent Martha Rainville's campaign has a canine mascot too. Campaign aide Judy Shailor's dog, Brutus, patrols campaign headquarters.

Vermonters can expect TV ads from Rainville, but spokesman Brendan McKenna said he couldn't say when. Whether Brutus will make the footage, well, that's probably unlikely.

_ Terri Hallenbeck