Randy Brock, the Republican candidate for governor, is on the attack already even though his opponent, incumbent Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin is nowhere to be found on the campaign trail.

Brock, a state senator from Franklin County and former one-term state auditor, is still working on his statewide name recognition (he has many “four county days,” of late, crisscrossing the state to meet as many voters and donors as he can), but that hasn’t prevented him from going on the offensive.

Meanwhile, Shumlin has sworn off campaigning until after Labor Day (not to mention the Aug. 28 primary and simultaneous Tropical Storm Irene anniversary). Like his predecessor, Republican Gov. Jim Douglas, Shumlin has, in effect, spent most of his time in office engaged in the kind of retail politics that isn’t so different from campaigning. The governor, according to his public schedule, travels all over the state each week, glad-handing constituents, attending ribbon cuttings, association meetings, visiting businesses, etc. (The first term governor’s effort has paid off: In a May WCAX/WDEV/Vermont Business Magazine poll, 60 percent of respondents said they would vote for Shumlin and 27 percent would cast ballots for Brock.)

Brock, as the challenger, has no such advantage, and in recent weeks his campaign has grabbed headlines by going negative.

The latest salvo from Brock is a new, made-for-the-Web video advertisement titled “Ready.”

Queue up the dramatic headlines, hard-hitting WCAX newscast voiceovers and ominous background music.

In a series of vignettes with news anchors and clips from pressers, Brock pounds on the theme that will be the mainstay of his campaign against Shumlin: The governor’s alleged “mismanagement” of Vermont.

Brock says Shumlin has committed “error after error, promoted government waste and inefficiency, and focused on the pet projects of national liberal organizations in exchange for campaign cash.”

In the three-minute plus clip, Brock outlines the governor’s alleged missteps: a “bureaucratic takeover” of health care; abuse of overtime pay by state workers; “pandering” for campaign contributions from a national marijuana group; the $90 million FEMA funding “debacle”; and finally “a broken promise to utility ratepayers,” i.e. Shumlin’s support of Gaz Metro’s plan to use $21 million for efficiency programs instead of a rebate to ratepayers.

In a pitch to voters and donors, Brock says “the governor’s mistakes and lack of leadership provide Vermont voters with a clear contrast.”

That contrast? Brock says it’s his focus on jobs and the economy. (Turf Shumlin is sure to claim, too.)

Brock says the inexpensive video spot, produced by the Strategy Group for Media, is designed as a Web ad. He doesn’t plan to pay WCAX (where most of the footage comes from) and other TV stations tens of thousands of dollars to run the video. Instead, he hopes “Ready” will go viral via email, Facebook and media websites.

“We’re using it to communicate to our donor base, and a number of organizations and institutions following the campaign,” Brock says.

Is this a sign the fundraising effort isn’t going as well as expected? Brock says donations could be higher, but “if I had a million dollars I’d give the same answer.” The GOP contender will be giving his official answer when he files his campaign finance report on Aug. 15.

“Free is the operative word at moment,” Brock said. “In any campaign you’re try to get the most value with what you have available. We’re trying to husband our dollars like any other campaign.”