NRSC rips Tester on bank contributions, Heitkamp on energy

The National Republican Senatorial Committee is up with new ads blasting Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) for the high level of contributions he's received from lobbyists and bankers and criticizing former North Dakota Attorney General Heidi Heitkamp's (D) record on energy.

The ad against Tester starts with a clip of him promising he "won't sell Montana down the road by cutting deals with the K Street lobbyists," then follows up with a series of damaging headlines about his fight on behalf of the banking industry against a part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law.

"Jon Tester's record in Washington? Jon Tester is #1 in contributions from lobbyists," the ad's text says before a series of headlines appear: "Jon Tester went to bat for the banks ... the banking industry is returning the favor. Big banks dumped money into Tester's campaign coffers. Jon Tester has reaped a windfall from contributions from banks and lobbyists."

Tester is locked in a tight battle for reelection against Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.), and has gone after the congressman for his own ties to lobbyists. Both sides are seeking to tie the other to Washington as much as possible in the populist state.

In North Dakota, the NRSC seeks to tie Heitkamp to President Obama on taxes and his energy policy.

"North Dakota's created thousands of jobs through energy exploration and keeping taxes low. But Heidi Heitkamp’s Washington threatens our economy," the ad says. "Heidi supports President Obama's higher taxes on small business, and Heidi's taken thousands from anti-fracking environmental lawyers who put our energy economy at risk. Heidi Heitkamp will bring Obama’s economic policies to North Dakota. That's wrong for our economy."

Heitkamp has made her race against Rep. Rick Berg (R-N.D.) a tight one, in large part because she's put distance between herself and Obama on issues like energy — she opposes cap-and-trade legislation and ripped Obama for his opposition to constructing the Keystone XL oil pipeline. But recent reports show some of her biggest donations come from a New York-based environmental law firm.