With exactly four weeks left until the general election on Nov. 4, new ads from the gubernatorial candidates have hit the internet and the airwaves with a focus on everything from Wall Street and the national economic downturn to Vermont Yankee and the decommissioning fund.

The campaign team for Democratic House Speaker Gaye Symington unveiled a new attack ad Tuesday, criticizing Republican incumbent Gov. Jim Douglas for vetoing a decommissioning fund for Vermont Yankee and opposing increased independent oversight.

"Vermont Yankee's owners ought to pay for its cleanup--not Vermonters," said Symington in her video clip. She then added that she would also immediately invest in alternative energy sources for affordable energy.

Symington's ad echoed Democracy for America's recently released television spot that hammers Douglas' policies regarding Vermont Yankee. Like Symington's, DFA's ad sharply focuses on the governor's veto of the decommissioning fund as well as his opposition to increasing independent oversight. Democracy for America is a progressive "political action community" founded by Vermont's former governor and current Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean, with its headquarters in South Burlington. It endorsed Symington last week.

"More and more Vermonters are realizing Jim Douglas has constantly sided with the out of state owners of Vermont Yankee instead of siding with Vermonters," Michael Carrese, communications director for Symington's campaign, told PolitickerVT.com. "His oversight of incompetent plant operations has been ineffective, he has resisted independent review of the plant, and he is trusting a giant corporation to choose the interests of Vermonters over its own bottom line."

Douglas countered the attacks and released his campaign released a new ad on Monday, targeting concerns about the national economy and the financial woes of Vermonters.

"Wall Street and Washington have lost our trust," Douglas said in his ad. "That's why I'm fighting for changer here in Vermont."

The governor continued, touting his newly unveiled economic plan.

"There is a clear choice in this election between a governor who has layed (sic.) out a clear economic growth plan to position Vermont to emerge from this national economic recession with a stronger economy," said Douglas' campaign manager Dennise Casey to PolitickerVT.com. "It addresses the need to keep electric costs down, invests in renewable energy and more affordable homes and it provides new incentives to encourage innovative companies with cutting edge technologies to locate in Vermont."