JAMESTOWN, N.D. — Veteran Democratic Rep. Earl Pomeroy went on the offensive Friday with a television ad criticizing his opponent’s long tenure in state politics and for not agreeing to a debate.

The ad features several people trying to recall how long GOP state Rep. Rick Berg has been in the North Dakota legislature.

“Months of attacks from Rick Berg and his out-of-state friends, but who is Rick Berg?” the ads narrator asks. “Rick Berg has been in the legislature 26 years.”

The narrator goes on to describe Berg’s record as one where he voted to privatize social security, expand corporate farming and share private information with banks.

Berg’s spokesman, Tom Nelson, called the ad “another sign of desperation” by the nine-term Congressman.

“Earl Pomeroy took to the airwaves yesterday and launched his negative ad campaign falsely attacking Rick Berg rather than addressing the issues facing our country,” Nelson said in a statement.

“Earl Pomeroy has been in Washington for 18 years, during which time he authored the plan to privatize social security and voted to slash hundred of billions of dollars from Medicare.”

Pomeroy’s ad comes just days after Berg unveiled his first general election campaign ad. Berg’s 30-second spot focuses on what he thinks Washington could learn from North Dakota.

This is Berg’s first ad since the Republican primary in June.

The North Dakota airwaves have been relatively quiet so far this summer, but these ads are expected to be just the tipping point for what is to come this fall when the North Dakota House race will be a key battleground in the midterm elections.

Both the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the National Republican Campaign Committee have reserved time to advertise in North Dakota.

Pomeroy and Berg, who are in a tight race in the state’s lone House seat, are also clashing over finding a date to debate each other. For weeks, the two campaigns have gone back and forth over agreeing on an acceptable date.

“It seems Rick Berg cannot find time to have even one debate in his hometown before Congress reconvenes and I have to leave for Washington,” Pomeroy said in a statement. “In all my time in public life, I have never run against an opponent who refused so strenuously to talk about his record and what he would do if elected.”

Pomeroy’s campaign has put forward 15 dates over the next several weeks before Congress goes back in session for media-sponsored debates.

Nelson said Berg is looking forward to debating Pomeroy, but that they took him at his word that they would wait until after Labor Day to hold the event.

“We have not turned down any debates as of yet,” Nelson said. “We’ve scheduled our campaign past Labor Day.”

Nelson said the campaign is open to working around Pomeroy’s Congressional responsibilities, offering to hold debates on weekends, or a Monday or Friday if Congress isn’t in session.