AUSTIN - With two weeks left in her uphill bid to be the governor of Texas, then-state treasurer Ann Richards launched a television advertisement that recited Republican opponent Clayton Williams' controversial comments on campaigning, drinking and, most prominently, rape: "It's like the weather," the ad quoted Williams as saying. "If it's inevitable, relax and enjoy it."

Richards won that 1990 election, overcoming a 20-point deficit in the polls in a turnaround partly attributed to her opponent's remark.

Twenty-four years later, another woman has raised the issue of rape - in this instance an actual incident - into her campaign to be the state's first Democratic governor since Richards. While political strategists and experts praised the boldness of state Sen. Wendy Davis's new ad accusing Attorney General Greg Abbott of "siding with a corporation over a rape victim," some said it carries the chance of a backlash that could doom the long-shot campaign.

"Absolutely, it is a risk," said Allan Saxe, a political scientist at the University of Texas at Arlington.

The risk may be especially high after the Davis campaign acknowledged Friday it had not spoken with the victim before releasing the ad Thursday night.

Davis spokesman Zac Petkanas said the victim spoke out about her case at the time and he thinks a Democratic organization warned her earlier this year it may be brought up in the governor's race.

Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson said not consulting the woman "sounds like political malpractice."

"If that's right, the campaign is at moral and political fault," Jillson said.

The Houston Chronicle was unable to reach the woman Friday.

Throughout the day, the ad generated a variety of reactions amid a flurry of media coverage, including some criticism from unexpected corners. One progressive journalist who personally supports Davis wrote on Twitter that the ad "rubs me the wrong way." The executive director of a rape-crisis clinic told the Chronicle that the commercial may trigger traumatic memories among victims.

The 60-second ad criticizes Abbott's 1998 dissenting opinion as a Texas Supreme Court justice in a case involving a rape victim suing a vacuum company.

The Seguin victim, who said she was raped by a vacuum salesman she had let into her home for a demonstration as her children slept in another room, sued manufacturer The Kirby Co. after learning the man - a contractor for an independent local distributor - had a conviction the company did not know about because it had not conducted a background check.

Abbott, who served on the court between 1995 and 2001 before becoming attorney general in 2002, wroteKirby "owed no duty" to the woman because the company did not have control over the distributor's salesman selection.

Two other justices agreed, but six disagreed, and the woman won a $160,000 verdict.

'Gutter politics'

The ad, Davis' first of the general election, plays ominous music and shows grainy video of a man entering and leaving a home. It is scheduled to run in "multiple media markets," according to the campaign.

Abbott's camp on Thursday night called the commercial "despicable" and an example of "gutter politics."

On Friday, Abbott's campaign defended the attorney general's record of protecting women, touting a fugitive unit tasked with arrested sex offenders who violate their probation or parole, leading to more than 4,500 arrests.

The ad is notable, in part, because of the prominent role gender has played in the campaign thus far. Davis, who burst onto the national scene last summer with an unsuccessful filibuster against a restrictive new abortion law, is basing much of her campaign around appealing to women.

Several political consultants in Texas and around the country said the ad probably will help Davis solidify support among Democratic women and pick up a few independents.

"I have to say, I thought the ad was pretty effective," said Fred Davis, a GOP ad-maker who worked on Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign. "The way it was written was really well-done to make Greg Abbott look like he's the only person in the world that voted in favor of, you know, the bad guys in your story, and then everybody else sided with the woman."

Glenn Smith, who served as a consultant for the Richards campaign, said it reminds him of her 1990 ad and predicted Davis' would be "very effective."

Other consultants said they were surprised by the ad's aggressive approach to a sensitive topic, as well as the fact it was used as an opening salvo in the air war. Traditionally, campaigns hold their fire until later in the fall, when more voters are paying attention.

'Roll the dice'

Larry Sabato, founder and director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said the boldness is necessary for a long-shot campaign.

Davis trails in most polls, including one released Friday showing her with 40 percent of the vote against Abbott's 48 percent. The attorney general entered the summer with a nearly 3-to-1 cash advantage.

"When you are well behind and likely to lose, you generally roll the dice, perhaps repeatedly," Sabato said.

Some experts and Republicans, however, said the commercial could do more harm than good.

GOP strategist Ted Delisi said it may drive up Davis' own negative ratings. When that happens, he said, undecided voters simply stop listening to any further messaging and "their ability to be persuaded is gone."

"It's definitely a high-risk strategy, one in which I suspect may not turn out the way she wants," Delisi said.

Andrea Grimes, a senior political reporter at RH Reality Check, said she supported Davis and the ad's overall message, but "it seems unnecessarily sensational and kind of disturbing in a way that makes it look like the campaign is exploiting a rape survivor to make a political point."

Reaction worries

She added that, "as a survivor of sexual violence myself, I would be very upset to find out someone had used what had happened to me to make a political point without my permission."

Several advocates for sexual assault victims said Friday they had mixed feelings about the ad.

Dallas Area Rape Crisis Center Executive Director Bobbie Villareal said she planned to alert her volunteers to the ad in case anybody calls the center's 24-hour hotline with painful memories triggered by it.

"When we put these ads out there, we need to think about what's truly the intent," Villareal said, noting she was speaking solely as a victims advocate. "Surely no candidate would want to do more harm than good, but it's a triggering campaign ad, and we are going to prepare for that."

Nadia DiStefano, a spokeswoman for The Women's Center of Tarrant County, said in a statement that it is difficult to know how survivors will react.

"Some may feel validated and empowered by the story told in this ad," DiStefano said. "Others may find it difficult to watch."