Fat Lady Hasn't Sung In Georgia

And you thought you were done with political ads on TV. Well, not if you're in Georgia.

Because Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) seems stuck below the 50-percent mark in Tuesday's balloting, the race under state law seems destined for a December run-off. Freedom's Watch doesn't have much going on these days, and it isn't wasting any time.

The group -- which, depending on how you see it, either failed to fend off Democratic takeovers in Congress or succeeded in preventing worse Republican losses -- has a new ad trashing Jim Martin, the Democrat challenging Chambliss.

"Jim Martin says he's a champion of lower taxes," the ad says. "I guess that must have been another Jim Martin who criticized a $100 million tax cut plan for Georgia families...His evil twin maybe? Or just the same old tax-and-spend Martin policies."

Both candidates also bought air time for their own ads. And so it continues...

-- Will Evans

2:49 PM ET | 11- 7-2008 | permalink

comments () | | e-mail

Parting Shots From The Left

It's the final push, folks, and they're pushing hard. Here's a wave of liberal ads hoping to unseat Senate Republicans -- and a video representation of Republican fear.

People for the American Way rolls out TV ads criticizing Republican senators for supporting "judges who hurt our families." The ads say that Susan Collins of Maine, Norm Coleman of Minnesota, John Sununu of New Hampshire, Gordon Smith of Oregon and Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina "stood with George Bush and helped put his extreme nominees on our nation's highest court." Here's the one about Collins, who is the group's focus:

Patriot Majority continues to batter Republican incumbents and continues to receive giant bundles of union cash. Recent ads include one accusing Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) of siding with "corporate interests and one faulting Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) for supporting free trade agreements.

Another takes on Dole, saying, "They know us as Tar Heels for standing our ground. But when Elizabeth Dole votes with George Bush 92 percent of the time, the ground starts to crumble." The ground-crumbling metaphor is aided by a visual in the ad.

Patriot Majority reported getting $1.5 million from AFSCME this month, as well as $125,000 from the Teamsters and $25,000 from Patricia Bauman, who is president of the liberal Bauman Foundation and board member of Catalist, a data-mining firm that works for Democrats.

It's enough to drive Freedom's Watch crazy. The conservative group has been one of biggest players running ads to stem the onslaught of Democratic Senate candidates.(Here's a recent one taking on Jeff Merkley, who's challenging Smith in Oregon.) In a video to be e-mailed to the Freedom's Watch rank and file tomorrow, you can feel the fear of the nightmare scenario: a filibuster-proof Democratic majority.

The dark and ominous video takes aim at Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, calling his "reckless policies" the cause of current economic woes. It warns that the DSCC is "spending nearly $100 million on a smear campaign funded by special interests." It continues, "A filibuster-proof Senate means unchecked power to pass their tax increases, their pork-barrel spending, and no ability to block activist judicial nominees." And the capper: "Too much power in one party's hand is too risky for America."

The irony of the last line -- since it was merely two years ago that voters ended six years of one-party GOP rule by giving congressional majorities to the Democrats -- is only surpassed by the sense of frustration, just days before the eleciton.

After the jump, even more liberal Senate ads -- silly and serious.

Continue reading "Parting Shots From The Left" »

3:19 PM ET | 10-29-2008 | permalink

comments () | | e-mail

A Tour Of Senate Ads

Our business here is to monitor indie political groups and their ads, and business has been good. Advocacy groups haven't run out of money. The bad news? They've run out of ideas.

Two new North Carolina ads follow story lines we've heard over and over before (not that that's a bad way to influence voters -- it just makes the blog more boring). Here's one from Freedom's Watch, blaming Democratic Senate candidate Kay Hagan for jacking up taxes. Our takeaway: She wants to tax candy?!

Next, Americans for Job Security denounces unions that want to take away secret ballots in union elections. "Hagan's on their side, not ours," the ad says, as an armored truck speeds out of Washington, presumably delivering union cash to Hagan. Watch the ad here. There's a virtually identical ad targeting the Democrat Ronnie Musgrove in a Mississippi Senate race.

Moving along to New Hampshire... Labor unions (those bad guys from the last ad) are piling on to Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) by, predictably, tying him to President Bush. The distinguishing factor? The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees uses a rope metaphor (we're at the "end of our rope") and the Service Employees International Union uses a country-store cash register gimmick. We don't have the AFSCME ad in blogable format, so you'll have to trust us. Here's the SEIU ad:

Now follow us to Minnesota for a breath of fresh ideas...

Continue reading "A Tour Of Senate Ads" »

12:55 PM ET | 10-23-2008 | permalink

comments () | | e-mail

Senate Roundup: The Usual Attacks And A Puzzler

The campaign clock is running down, and it's tough keeping up with the new ads. Here's a new crop from Senate races -- advertisers include the American Future Fund, League of Conservation Voters, Chamber of Commerce, Freedom's Watch and Susan B. Anthony List.

Let's start with one that presents a logical challenge.

The American Future Fund released a new ad in its ongoing campaign against Democratic Senate candidate Mark Udall in Colorado. The ad implies Udall is bad on education, needs a "reality check," and then -- curiously -- urges him to support Senate bill 12.

First of all, the bill was introduced by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in February and hasn't gone anywhere since. Second, the bill's only education provision is an "enhanced charitable deducation for corporate contributions of computer equipment for educational purposes." Third and perhaps most important, Udall is a member of the House of Representatives, not the Senate. He wouldn't be able to vote for S. 12 unless he gets elected, an ambition the American Future Fund hopes to thwart. Right?

Meanwhile, the League of Conservation Voters produced an ad tying Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) to "Big Oil;" Freedom's Watch, in a rare positive ad, boosts Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) as an anti-tax crusader; and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce hits Minnesota Democratic Senate candidate Al Franken on taxes and being funny.

Franken also takes a beating in a radio ad by the Susan B. Anthony List, which supports anti-abortion Republicans. A woman calls in to the "Delusional Politician Hotline" to report an angry, foul-mouthed politician with "funny glasses" -- that would be Franken. The woman is concerned about Franken's support of abortion rights. "'Does sort of make his support of pornography make sense," says the hotline operator. The woman asks fearfully, "Is he -- serious?" The laconic operator responds: "He's a comedian, ma'am."

-- Will Evans

4:40 PM ET | 10-18-2008 | permalink

comments () | | e-mail

October Bombardment, Part II: Senate Edition

Just as the presidential race is awash with new attack ads, Senate candidates face a crushing wave of messages from outside groups as well. Here, we feature the American Energy Alliance, Americans for Job Security, Freedom's Watch, Health Care for America Now and VoteVets. And they just keep coming. Let's start in Oregon:

Freedom's Watch
The conservative casino magnate-funded group blasts Democratic Senate candidate Jeff Merkley of Oregon on taxes. In the ad, a driver listens to the car radio, which broadcasts a caller on talk radio saying he's upset that Merkley wants to raise taxes. The radio host confirms, "You're right, I saw that on TV." The fictional host may have seen it on TV because Freedom's Watch recently broadcast an another ad about it. So, try to follow this: the TV ad cites a radio caller who is backed up by a radio host who cites a TV ad.

American Energy Alliance
We travel east to Kentucky, where this conservative group with ties to the oil industry is spending $108,000 on a radio ad against Bruce Lunsford, the Democratic challenger to the newly vulnerable Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). The ad blames Lunsford for the Kentucky system of taxing gas, calling it the "Lunsford gas tax." It says, "Nobody likes paying more at the pump -- unless you're Bruce Lunsford." The ad echoes an earlier TV ad by McConnell, which was analyzed by Factcheck.org.

Travel on to New Hampshire and North Carolina...

Continue reading "October Bombardment, Part II: Senate Edition" »

4:18 PM ET | 10- 9-2008 | permalink

comments () | | e-mail

Protecting A Republican Incumbent

In North Carolina, where Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole looks newly vulnerable to a national Democratic surge, conservative outside groups are coming to her defense -- predictably, by attacking her Democratic challenger. The groups' ads don't even mention Dole.

Freedom's Watch has a new TV ad painting the Democratic candidate as a tax-and-spender: "Kay Hagan voted for over 50 higher taxes and fees -- on income, birth, medical care, cars, food, even death," the ad says. "Hagan's budgets grew government over 40 percent, almost doubled state debt, and brought economic growth to a halt."

Meanwhile, Americans for Prosperity recently extended a radio ad buy that also hits Hagan on taxes, and adds in criticism over her stance on offshore drilling.

"You know that feeling you get when you fill your tank and your jaw drops when you see the costs," the ad says. "Thank Kay Hagan if those eye-popping gas prices continue for years." Listen here.

Americans for Prosperity has more than passing interest in drilling. Its foundation's chair and founder is David Koch of Koch Industries, which runs oil refining and pipeline companies.

Another Americans for Prosperity Foundation board member is Richard Fink, a Koch executive who serves as a director of the refining subsidiary. Fink helps control AFP's purse strings. He is president of the Koch-affiliated Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation, which gave AFP's foundation $2.2 million from 2005-06, according to the Foundation Center.

-- Will Evans

3:30 PM ET | 10- 6-2008 | permalink

comments () | | e-mail

September Saw Smorgasbord Of Attack Ads

New ads and new groups burst onto TV screens in September. Independent groups bought about $23 million worth of election-oriented airtime during the month, according to the Campaign Media Analysis Group. Let's take a look back...

T. Boone Pickens has been burning a hole in his pocket, if not the ozone. After he bought more than $5 million worth of airtime in September for his campaign advocating wind power and natural gas, we wondered whether Boone would go dark -- he was hit with big financial losses at his day job. Now the wondering is over. Boone spent nearly another million dollars on advertising on the day of the presidential debate last week to propel viewers to his plan.

Boone, a longtime Republican mega-donor, recently said something we never though we'd hear him say: "Whether you're supporting the Democrat or the Republican, I don't care."

Most of the other groups buying airtime tend to care a lot more.

On the left, the Service Employees International Union is the top spender in the presidential race, with $1.3 million in airtime attacking McCain on the economy.

On the right, the prize goes to newcomer Rightchange.com, which spent nearly $900,000 on an obtuse anti-Obama ad and just announced a new one. The 527 is run by Republican state legislators in North Carolina and a pharmaceutical executive who provides the funding.

The runner-up on the right is Vets For Freedom, which spent close to $600,000 on ads critical of Obama in September. The latest of the group's increasingly hard-hitting ads accuses Obama of having "skipped" 45 percent of Senate votes while managing "to show up to vote against emergency funding for our troops." As usual for VFF, the ad is worded to be about legislation -- a Senate resolution praising the surge -- rather than about the White House race. Still, the ad makes several points that mirror a McCain campaign attack ad, which was deconstructed by Factcheck.org. Vets For Freedom plans a $2.2 million national buy -- starting with heavy emphasis on California, a state that has been considered a sure bet for Obama.

You don't always need to spend a lot to get a lot of attention. Both MoveOn.org and Born Alive Truth got a big bang this month for few bucks. But Brave New Films is probably the best example. The political film company created a ruckus with an ad focusing on McCain's skin cancer. The ad was so hot it was rejected by CNN, bashed by Fox and dropped after a debut on MSNBC. Airtime cost: $5,000. Attention: priceless.

Check out Senate ads after the jump...

Continue reading "September Saw Smorgasbord Of Attack Ads" »

9:55 PM ET | 09-30-2008 | permalink

comments () | | e-mail

Freedom's Watch Skewers Dem With His Own Words

It was only last April that a New York Times headline said of Freedom's Watch, "Great Expectations for a Conservative Group Seem All but Dashed." But the group seems like it's on a roll these days.

True, it's not active in the presidential race as was originally expected. But it's advertising in several House and Senate races. This month alone, it spent about $600,000 this month bashing the Democratic Senate candidates in Oregon and Colorado. We've already looked at the new ad in Colorado. Now here's the latest by Freedom's Watch in Oregon.

The ad showcases a clip of Democratic challenger Jeff Merkley saying, "I advocate for tax hikes every night in living rooms across Oregon." This soundbite is so sweet, the ad runs it three times in 30 seconds. Merkley's opponent, Republican incumbent Gordon Smith had already used it in an attack ad of his own.

But when Smith's ad went up, a reporter for the Oregonian called it a "pretty clever case of selective editing," because Merkley was actually talking about closing tax loopholes on corporations and the wealthy.

Ah, details.

-- Will Evans

12:00 PM ET | 09-26-2008 | permalink

comments () | | e-mail

Trash-Talking The Colorado Senate Contenders

It's a tough choice for Colorado's Senate seat. There's Democrat Mark Udall, who won't protect us against terrorists. And then there's Republican Bob Schaffer, who doesn't care if sweatshop workers are forced to have abortions. Must be true, right? It said so on TV...

Two harsh new ads are out in the red-hot Senate race, one from casino-magnate-funded Freedom's Watch hitting Udall and the other from union-funded Patriot Majority taking on Schaffer.

The Freedom's Watch ad starts with scenes of gun-toting crowds and flag-burning in the Mideast: "Radical Islamic terrorists. They hate us, and want us to die. We have to be strong, and ready. But Mark Udall? He voted no on the Patriot Act; no to funding body armor; no to strenthening border security." Just to make things clear, the ad throws in images of the leaders of Iran and North Korea, plus Osama bin Laden, whom the ad places in crosshairs.

The ad comes on the heels of a mass mailing of DVDs by another group, warning of radical Islam. Though the DVDs didn't mention candidates, the issue is clearly just one step away from an attack ad.

Check out Patriot Majority's anti-Schaffer ad after the jump...

Continue reading "Trash-Talking The Colorado Senate Contenders" »

2:00 PM ET | 09-25-2008 | permalink

comments () | | e-mail

Ad Making Fun Of Democrat Takes One-Day Break

Freedom's Watch has been ridiculing Colorado Senate candidate Mark Udall's past support for a Department of Peace, but today it gives the Democratic congressman a day off.

It's in honor of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

But back to the ridicule...

This new ad from Freedom's Watch features a middle-aged hippie wearing a tie-dye shirt and what looks like a long-haired wig showing off the unofficial Department of Peace, which is...a Volkswagen bus packed with some suspicious smoke. The faux hippie tells us that Udall wanted to spend billions on a Department of Peace. The fine print cites congressional votes five and seven years old.

Udall says he doesn't support the idea anymore; not sure what will happen to the van.

Here's the ad:

Meanwhile, or a more-somber-but-still-military note, VoteVets put up a new online ad yesterday charging that McCain intends to reinstate the draft. (In the two clips in the ad, he doesn't give a flat "No" but also doesn't come close to saying "Yes" either.) No hippies in that ad.

-- Will Evans

9:54 AM ET | 09-11-2008 | permalink

comments () | | e-mail

Freedom's Watch Swats OR Democrat

While Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) gets battered by a liberal outside group, his Democratic opponent, Jeff Merkley, gets similar treatment from a conservative outside group.

In a new ad, Freedom's Watch accuses Merkley of being just downright mean. The ad asks, "Who could have ever opposed" compassionate homecare assistance to seniors? You guessed it: "Jeff Merkley did."

Both Merkley and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) vigorously denied the accusation. But they can't get rid of the ad.

-- Will Evans

3:43 PM ET | 09-10-2008 | permalink

comments () | | e-mail

Pinch-Hitting For The Party

An unusual number of conservative groups this week put up attack ads in Senate races around the country. Among them: the American Future Fund, Americans for Prosperity, Freedom's Watch, and two anti-union organizations.

Now comes confirmation of the puzzle's missing piece. These independent ads are running just when Senate Republicans can't afford to do hit pieces of their own.

John Ensign of Nevada, chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, blames other Republican senators. He didn't name names, but issued this statement Friday morning:

I recently challenged my colleagues to step up to the plate and help me provide the resources our candidates need to compete in races across the country -- to match the DSCC [Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee] expenditures in targeted races. It has become clear that my call has gone largely unanswered. I have no control over the timing or content of IE ads, but I have had no choice but to decrease the total budget of our IE Unit. It is still my hope that my Republican colleagues will engage in this election and help match what the Democrats are doing. If they do, I will adjust our budget accordingly.

Both the NRSC and its House counterpart are hurting this year, compared to the Democratic Hill committees. June 30 cash-on-hand figures were $24.6 million for the NRSC, $46.2 million for the DSCC.

When Ensign refers to "independent expenditures," he's talking about one of the more bizarre arrangements created by the campaign finance system. But it's also the legal vehicle for the national parties to run attack ads and be only semi-accountable for them.

A party committee (say, the NRSC) puts together an independent-expenditure team, gives them some millions of dollars and -- literally -- sends them across town to set up shop. Anything the IE team does is legal, provided there's no coordination with the NRSC mothership.

But if there's not enough money for that, as Ensign now says, the NRSC has to depend on the kindness of, well, not quite strangers, but outsiders.

-- Peter Overby

6:29 PM ET | 08-22-2008 | permalink

comments () | | e-mail

Here's A Switch: Tarred For Taking Environmentalist Money

When Freedom's Watch ran an ad accusing Rep. Nick Lampson (D-TX) of "politics as usual," the group's line of attack was anything but usual.

Unlike a barrage of ads from independent advocacy groups attacking Republicans for accepting contributions from "Big Oil," Freedom's Watch accuses Lampson of taking donations from an environmentalist group -- or rather, "a liberal special interest group that favors high gas prices." The group at issue was the Sierra Club. The ad ran over the last two weeks.

-- Daniella De Franco

5:29 PM ET | 08-19-2008 | permalink

comments () | | e-mail

Freedom's Watch Hits Colorado Democrat Again

Freedom's Watch began running a new television ad today that lambasts Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO) for skipping a vote on whether to adjourn Congress before discussion of an energy bill. Set to the tune of "Skip to My Lou," the ad is a follow-up to Freedom's Watch's similarly themed ad from last week. According to the group, the new ad will run statewide in Colorado this week.

-- Daniella De Franco

4:12 PM ET | 08-19-2008 | permalink

comments () | | e-mail

Freedom's Watch Dings CO Democrat

Freedom's Watch produced this ad criticizing Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO) for missing a vote on whether Congress could adjourn before handling an energy bill. Udall is running for Senate.

-- Will Evans

7:50 PM ET | 08-12-2008 | permalink

comments () | | e-mail