Democratic candidate Scott Matheson Jr.'s campaign has purchased more than $100,000 in air time to begin his television ad campaign.

Republican nominee Jon Huntsman Jr. probably won't put his first TV commercials of the general election on the air until the weekend, or next week, at the earliest, said spokesman Jason Chaffetz.

"It's a question of how early do you really want to start that. There is still quite a long ways until the election," said Chaffetz.

But Matheson believes that with Labor Day marking the end of summer, voters are primed to begin paying more attention to the Nov. 2 election.

"We felt it was important to get our message out to voters at this point and get the fall campaign under way," said Matheson.

The Democrat pointed out that Huntsman has received a lot more attention in the news media because of the contested battle for the Republican gubernatorial nomination through a May convention and June primary election. Matheson was unchallenged for his party's spot on the ballot.

Huntsman previously ran TV spots leading up to and immediately following the May 8 state Republican Convention, when he emerged as the top vote-getter from among eight candidates.

Matheson said his initial campaign spots will be positive ads about his plan for improving public education.

"It carries the message that we've been focusing on for some time and highlights the issue as a high priority for the campaign and for the state," said Matheson.

The Democrat has long held up education as his prime issue, while Huntsman has declared economic development his top concern.

Matheson and Huntsman have similar plans for increasing funding for education without a tax hike. But they differ on at least two significant points. Huntsman supports experimenting with tax breaks for parents sending their children to private schools, while Matheson opposes them. Huntsman has said he would dump the No Child Left Behind program, even at the risk of forfeiting more than $100 million in federal aid. Matheson said he would be unwilling to give up that much federal money.