Rep. Bobby Bright (D-Ala.) took aim at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in his latest campaign ad, saying, "I've heard my constituents and they don't want a liberal running the House. They want a conservative."
In the 30-second spot, Bright highlights his recent proclamation that he won't vote for Pelosi again as Speaker of the House. Instead, Bright says he'll vote for the person who will allow him to best represent his constituents.
Bright also vows in the ad to help repeal the healthcare law, noting that "anyone who tells you otherwise is just downright lying."
Last week, Bright pledged to not vote for Pelosi as Speaker should Democrats retain their majority after November's midterm elections.
Bright faces a tough reelection fight against Republican Martha Roby in one of the most conservative districts in the country. His last TV spot featured a photo of him next to one of House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and claimed that Bright voted with the Republican leader 80 percent of the time.
When it comes to opposing shadowy outside groups that pour money into elections, Democracy 21's Fred Wertheimer is an equal-opportunity opponent — and he's not letting Karl Rove characterize him any differently.
Wertheimer issued an angry statement Friday in response to comments Rove made on Fox News casting Wertheimer as a liberal lobbyist bent on targeting only conservative-leaning groups for violating their tax-exempt status.
Democracy 21 and the Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the IRS earlier this week complaining Crossroads GPS, a 501(c)(4) associated with Rove and longtime GOP booster Ed Gillespie had violated its tax-exempt status by participating in campaigns in direct support for or opposition to candidates for public office.
In a Tuesday appearance on Fox's Neil Cavuto, Rove acknowledged raising money for Crossroads GPS, along with an affiliated 527 group, American Crossroads. But he lashed out at Wertheimer, saying the watchdog had never taken issue with Democratic-leaning groups in previous election cycles.
"…What gets me is, I didn't see … groups like Crossroads GPS spent nearly $400 to $500 million on the Democratic ticket and the Democratic candidates in 2004. And we never heard one whisper from this lobbyist for liberal causes Mr. Werthimmer (sic)," Rove said.
Au contraire, Mr. Rove, Wertheimer protested in his release Friday.
In the wake of Doug Hoffman's withdrawal from the House race in New York's 23rd district, Democrats are launching an advertising onslaught against Republican Matt Doheny.
In the last 24 hours, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee layered another week on its existing TV ad buy in the district, according to a Republican strategist who tracks Democratic ad buys. The committee will now be up on the air in the district from Oct. 5 through Election Day. Its ads were originally set to start Oct. 12 in the Watertown media market.
Its first ad says Doheny "funded an organization pushing unfair trade — like NAFTA."
"Worse, Doheny signed a pledge that protected tax breaks for companies shipping jobs overseas," the announcer says in the spot.
That claim refers to Doheny's support for the Americans for Tax Reform pledge, which says signatories will "oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates."
Democrats want to change the current tax law to prevent corporations from deferring taxes on their foreign income, which business groups and Republicans say amounts to a tax increase.
Rep. Bill Owens (D-N.Y.) has also used Doheny's support for the pledge as a political cudgel against his challenger.
Republican sources say the DCCC has significantly increased its ad buy from some $250,000 in the Albany, Syracuse, Watertown and Burlington, Vt. media markets.
Democrats worry that without Hoffman to split the conservative vote, Owens will have trouble holding the Republican-leaning district.
Owens won the November 2009 special election for the seat by only some 3,500 votes — and that was with Republican Dede Scozzafava's name on the ballot.
The state lawmaker suspended her campaign shortly before the vote and said she was supporting Owens. But her name remained on the ballot, and Scozzafava ended up getting more than 8,000 votes — enough to cost Hoffman the election.
Hoffman dropped his bid for the seat earlier this week, but his name will still appear on the ballot on the Conservative line. He said Tuesday that he wants his supporters to vote for Doheny.
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) started running radio ads Thursday attacking Rep. Betty Sutton’s (D-Ohio) Republican opponent.
The GOP candidate, Tom Ganley, is a used car salesman running against Sutton in a race that could be a pick-up in the House for his party come November.
The ads attack Ganley for his support of the GOP House leaders' "Pledge to America." SEIU argues that platform will lead to cuts in unemployment benefits and Social Security as well as repeals of financial services and healthcare reforms.
"Tom Ganley will be one more Republican vote against Ohio's middle-class families . … Tom Ganley is wrong for Ohio," the ads say.
The ad buy costs almost $200,000 and will air in the Cleveland and Akron radio markets. The first buy will run through Oct. 12 with a second round coming on Oct. 13.
Ganley's bid recently ran into legal trouble. He's being sued by a woman claiming the Republican wouldn't give her a job because she refused his sexual advances.
The woman filed a police report last Friday accusing Ganley of sexual assault.
Ohio Republican Jim Renacci remains in the crosshairs of Democrats.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is up with a new TV ad Thursday that goes after the "millionaire" Republican for being a "foreign-trade lobbyist."
Moreover, he "signed a pledge that protected tax breaks for companies shipping jobs overseas," the announcer says in the 30-second ad.
Renacci is challenging freshman Rep. John Boccieri (D-Ohio).
In September, the DCCC and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) launched similar ads that focused on the Ohio Republican's tax troubles.
This ad buy, however, is relatively modest — only $35,000, according to the DCCC’s Federal Election Commission filing.
Polls show Boccieri needs to make up ground before Election Day.
He trails his Republican challenger by just three points — 42 percent to 39 — with 15 percent of likely voters undecided, according to The Hill/ANGA poll.
Boccieri's problem is that the remaining undecided voters are largely Republican and independent, making it tough for him to make up much ground. Just 14 percent of remaining undecided voters are Democrats, while 33 percent are Republican and 41 percent independent.
The Hill's poll was conducted Sept. 25-27, consisted of 401 phone interviews among likely voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percent.
Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-La.), who is challenging incumbent Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), has launched a statewide TV ad accusing Vitter of trying to protect BP from liability for the catastrophic Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
But Vitter’s campaign quickly called the spot – which began airing Tuesday – a blatant mischaracterization of Vitter’s legislation.
“After the spill, they had a choice,” the ad begins amid images of oily Gulf waters.
Trailing by double digits in some recent polls, Indiana Senate candidate Brad Ellsworth (R) is going on offense against Republican rival Dan Coats.
Ellsworth's new TV ad says Coats "sold out" Indiana by becoming a lobbyist and supporting trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement.
"During his 18 years in Congress, Dan Coats voted for trade agreements like NAFTA that made exporting American jobs a way of life," the announcer says in the ad. "Then Dan Coats made millions as a Washington lobbyists while his firm was helping corporations ship jobs overseas. Coats’ firm even trained corporate executives on how to fire American workers."
A spokeswoman for Ellsworth did not respond to a question about where the ad is airing in the state.
Tea Party favorite Christine O'Donnell unveiled her first TV ad of the general election Monday--a bio spot that features the candidate speaking straight to the camera with an attention-grabbing first line.
"I'm not a witch," O'Donnell says in the spot. "I'm nothing you've heard. I'm you."
The line alludes to a comment O'Donnell made during a taping of the Bill Maher show back in the late 90s, when she admitted, "I dabbled into witchcraft."
That O'Donnell uses the first ad of her Senate campaign against New Castle County Executive Chris Coons (D) to take those comments head on puts the stamp of Republican ad man Fred Davis squarely on her media campaign.
Davis, who's known for crafting some memorable political spots, (think Demon sheep and Paris Hilton) signed on with the O'Donnell campaign late last month.
"None of us are perfect, but none of us can be happy with what we see all around us," O'Donnell continues in the ad. "Spending, trading favors and back room deals are the ways to stay in office."
O'Donnell concludes the spot: "I'll go to Washington and do what you'd do."
O'Donnell upset longtime Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) in a nasty GOP primary that garnered significant national attention last month, but now trails her Democratic opponent by double-digits in most polls.
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