A new Democratic Super PAC focused on winning back the House majority next year is set to launch its first paid media effort, targeting 10 House Republicans who backed Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-Wis.) budget plan.
In what it's calling a "substantial" media buy, the House Majority PAC is rolling out 60-second radio spots accusing Republican members of voting to "gut Medicare."
"Just days ago, Sean Duffy voted for the Republican budget plan that’s going to have the wealthiest Americans lining up at the trough," says one spot targeting freshman Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.). "It protects billions in subsidies for big oil, and cuts taxes by trillions for the wealthiest Americans and big corporations. That’ll just make the deficit worse."
The 60-second radio spots begin Thursday and will run through next week. The group didn't offer a dollar amount on the buy, but those familiar say it's a six-figure effort.
The nine other GOP targets are Reps. Paul Gosar (Ariz.), Rick Crawford (Ark.), Allen West (Fla.), Chip Cravaack (Minn.), Charlie Bass (N.H.), Ann Marie Buerkle (N.Y.), Joe Heck (Nev.), Francisco "Quico" Canseco (Texas) and Blake Farenthold (Texas).
The House Majority PAC's effort comes a day after the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee rolled out radio ads targeting 25 House Republicans on the Ryan budget plan — an effort Republicans quickly slammed as minuscule.
The conservative group American Crossroads highlighted the actual dollar amounts of the DCCC's radio buys district by district, which totaled around $5,000.
Sarah Palin is not close to forming a presidential exploratory committee, and the former Alaska governor may even skip that step if she decides to mount a White House bid.
In an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, Palin on Tuesday night said the formation of an exploratory committee "isn't even on the radar," claiming it's too early for such a move.
After Hannity noted that other GOP politicians have already formed exploratory committees, Palin indicated that if she gets in, she won't be putting her toe in the water.
"I've never really run for anything conventionally. ... I've just jumped in there and done it when I've known it's the right thing to do. So it's going to be an unconventional run if I choose to do that."
An Iowa staffer to likely GOP presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty has resigned following his arrest on charges of public intoxication and trespassing.
Benjamin Foster, the aide in question, submitted his resignation Saturday and Pawlenty's exploratory committee accepted it, spokesman Alex Conant confirmed Tuesday.
Foster was initially suspended for two weeks without pay following his arrest early April 6.
Police arrested Foster after he was found about 3 a.m. banging at the back door of a family's home in Ankeny, Iowa, a 20-minute drive north of the state capital of Des Moines. Foster was initially held at gunpoint by the family's father after the disturbance reportedly scared his 15-year-old daughter.
Foster had pleaded not guilty to the charges last week, according to the Associated Press.
Donald Trump said this week he could eliminate the
nation’s deficit troubles without raising taxes by cutting defense spending or
tinkering with Medicare.
The real estate mogul, who’s mulling a run at the presidency
next year, said it’s not those domestic policies — but the actions of foreign
entities like China and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC) — that are at the root of America’s fiscal woes.
“You know how you do it? By stopping what's going on in the
world,” Trump told MSNBC on Monday, describing his deficit-reduction strategy. “The
world is just destroying our country. These other countries are sapping our
strength. OPEC is sapping our strength. We can't pay $108-a-barrel oil. It's
sapping our country.”
Trump reserved his harshest criticisms for China's currency
manipulation policy — a practice he said he could end by threatening stiff
taxes on Chinese imports to the United States.
Former Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.), who served three terms in the House in the 1990s, is seeking a 2012 return to Congress.
Salmon officially announced a bid Tuesday for the seat Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) is vacating to run for Senate next year.
Salmon was swept in with the Republican wave in the 1994 midterm elections and held true to a campaign pledge to serve just three terms. After his reelection in 1998, Salmon bowed out, paving the way for Flake's election in 2000.
He went on to lose a race for governor in 2002 to Democrat Janet Napolitano, the current Homeland Security Secretary.
"Over the past few years, we have watched as our taxpayer dollars have grown government and bailed out Wall Street," Salmon said in a statement announcing his 2012 campaign. "Government debt and Congressional inability to control spending is the greatest crisis facing America today."
Salmon joins Chuck Gray, the former leader of the Arizona state Senate, in the race for the Republican nomination in the solidly Republican congressional district.
The president of the Club for Growth encouraged longtime Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) to retire Tuesday rather than seek another term in 2012, warning that the group could get involved in the effort to oust Lugar in a primary.
In an interview on ABC's "Top Line" webcast, Club for Growth President Chris Chocola said while no decisions have been made as to whether the club will officially weigh in on the race between Lugar and Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock (R), "we do have some concerns about Sen. Lugar and his service."
"We think it would probably be best if he would retire at this point," Chocola said of Lugar, who has vowed to beat back a primary challenge and win another term in 2012. "We haven't made any decisions at this point, but we are looking at it very closely, and it's one of the races very high on our radar."
Chocola said the group is also waiting to see whether strong primary challenges to GOP Sens. Olympia Snowe (Maine) and Orrin Hatch (Utah) develop ahead of next year.
Backing from the Club for Growth could translate into a significant fundraising boon for Mourdock if the group endorsed in the primary and used its network to help raise money.
Lugar is sitting on a $3 million war chest ahead of 2012.
In Arizona, the Club has already raised more than $350,000 for Republican Rep. Jeff Flake's 2012 Senate bid. An early favorite of the Club, Flake was endorsed by the group the same day he declared his intention to run for the upper chamber.
Flake brought in more than $1 million during the first quarter of the year — nearly 35 percent of those contributions were earmarked through the Club for Growth.
Chocola also continued his group's battle with real estate mogul Donald Trump on Tuesday, telling "Top Line" that while Trump is a "great showman," he's no fiscal conservative.
"We are not fearful of his candidacy at all, but he is not conservative, he is not pro-growth and he is not a good choice for economic conservatives," Chocola said of Trump.
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