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Two weeks before a four-way Republican primary for governor, Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson released his first TV ad of the campaign.

The ad is titled “Crash Course,” and shows Johnson, the GOP-endorsed candidate, riding in a car with his son Thor and a dog. As Thor drives erratically through a student-driver training course marked with orange cones, Johnson compares the experience to DFL Gov. Mark Dayton being “behind the wheel of state government.”

"He's unpredictable. He can't see a disaster when it's right in front of him," Johnson says as the car drives through a row of barriers marked "MNsure."

Johnson's campaign manager, Scot Crockett, said in a news release that the ad pokes "good-natured fun" at Dayton.

"To beat Mark Dayton, our campaign will deliver Jeff's conservative message in ways that break the typical cookie-cutter mumbo-jumbo you see way too often from Republican candidates," Crockett said. "This is just the start."

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Tim Pugmire

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Johnson's ad features his son and some bad driving.

Johnson unveils first TV ad in bid for governor

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