In an increasingly vitriolic and competitive contest, Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno’s gubernatorial campaign this week unleashed negative ads against her rival Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli (R-16).

The first came in the form of a web ad, which draws a bead on Ciattarelli’s debate performance and charges him with flip-flopping.

The second – “Jack it up” – appeared on cable television this morning.

The 30-second spot hammers the assemblyman on a variety of issues, including the gas tax. In the debate last week, Ciattarelli acknowledged that he favored an incremental gas tax increase over time to make solvent the state Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) but rejected the big 23-cent on the gallon hike favored by Gov. Chris Christie.

Guadagno is supposed to be the clear front-runner in the race, but sources in the Ciattarelli camp tell InsiderNJ that the race has tightened, a trend reflected in the public Quinnipiac Poll released earlier this month.

After observing the ad, a veteran operative with ties to neither camp told InsiderNJ, “It says to me that the race is closer than I thought. If not they’d be going with a positive message.”

Throughout most of April, Guadagno tried to keep her public voccal energies focused on Democratic front-runner Phil Murphy.