2010 Elections, Political News

New details about the specific targets of the National Republican Congressional Committee’s television ad buys are emerging. Just days after news broke that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee would reduce its ad buy in the media market that covers Democratic Rep. Chris Carney’s 10th district in northeast Pennsylvania, a party source confirmed that the NRCC has decided to devote $595,000 to the district for ads that will run throughout the month of October. Carney is facing former U.S. Attorney Tom Marino (R) in a contest that the GOP is growing increasingly optimistic about. The district was not included on the NRCC’s original independent expenditure target list that was released last month. Another district that wasn’t included on that list was the open seat in New Hampshire. But the NRCC has now laid down $1 million for air time in the 2nd district during the last three weeks of October. The DCCC has already signaled it’s intention to play in the contest where Democrat Ann Kuster hopes to replace Rep. Paul Hodes (D). Next door, in the battleground 1st district of Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, the NRCC has also laid down $1 million down for commercial air time. The NRCC is going in big in two highly competitive seats in the Orlando media market as well. The committee is devoting $817,000 for air time against Rep. Alan Grayson (D) and another $817,000 for ads against Suzanne Kosmas (D). Those ads will air throughout the month of October. In Virginia, the NRCC is extending its ad buy against Rep. Rick Boucher (D) in the 9th district. The ads, which were set to begin tomorrow and run for a week, are now set to air through October 14. The committee has now spent a total of $342,000 in the district. Other reports out Thursday indicate that the NRCC has purchased $900,000 in air time in the Portland media market to aid state Rep. Jaime Herrera (R) in her race against Rep. Denny Heck (D). Those ads will run Sept. 24 to Oct 21. The committee is also laid down $300,000 in New Mexico’s 1st district to aide Republican Jon Barela (R) against Rep. Martin Heinrich. The Committee’s independent expenditure arm is currently running ads in 11 districts with the Virginia ad and another ad in North Carolina’s 7th district set to begin tomorrow.

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NRCC Ad Buy Strategy Takes Shape

Roughly 11 hours after tea party-backed Christine O’Donnell shocked the Republican establishment in Delaware’s GOP Senate primary, National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Sen. John Cornyn (Texas) promised to “stand by all of our Republican nominees, including Christine O’Donnell.” “I reached out to Christine this morning, and as I have conveyed to all of our nominees, I offered her my personal congratulations and let her know that she has our support,” Cornyn said in a statement. “This support includes a check for $42,000 – the maximum allowable donation that we have provided to all of our nominees – which the NRSC will send to her campaign today.” It was widely reported late Tuesday night that the NRSC would largely ignore O’Donnell, who is thought to have little appeal to the independents and Democrats who dominate the First State’s political landscape. O’Donnell defeated establishment-backed Rep. Mike Castle, who was favored to win the Senate race in November had he become the Republican nominee. Cornyn did not rule out the possibility that the NRSC would make independent expenditures in the Delaware race, which is covered by the expensive Philadelphia media market. But he didn’t offer much cause for optimism for the cash-strapped O’Donnell campaign, which reported just over $20,000 in the bank as of Aug. 25. “We remain committed to holding Democrat nominee New Castle County Executive Chris Coons accountable this November, as we inform voters about his record of driving his county to the brink of bankruptcy and supporting his party’s reckless spending policies in Washington,” Cornyn said. “In the weeks ahead, we will decide where to best allocate additional financial resources among the large number of competitive races at stake this November. While it’s not in Republicans’ interest to advertise our spending strategy to our opponents, it’s worth noting that just yesterday, the NRSC’s first independent expenditure ad aired in support of Dr. Rand Paul’s campaign in Kentucky, where we firmly believe that he will win in November.” Public Policy Polling released a survey Wednesday morning that showed O’Donnell well behind in general election matchup, although the poll was conducted before her upset victory on Tuesday. Coons begins the contest with a 50 percent to 34 percent lead over Christine O’Donnell, the survey from the Democratic firm found. Meanwhile, Castle would have led Coons by a 45 percent to 35 percent margin, according to a survey of 958 likely Delaware voters taken Sept. 11 and 12. It’s worth noting that PPP is the same firm that released a poll that showed O’Donnell ahead of Castle in the days before Tuesday’s primary. The new survey found that O’Donnell is much better known but much less liked than Coons, with a 29 percent to 50 percent favorable/unfavorable rating to Coons’ 31 percent to 33 percent favorability rating. Forty percent of those polled said O’Donnell is too conservative and the poll found that 49 percent of respondents said O’Donnell not fit to hold public office. “A small group of Delaware Republicans most likely cost their party this seat and any chance at gaining control of the Senate last night,” said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling. “What has looked like an easy Republican win the entire cycle now looks like an easy one for the Democrats.”

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Delaware: Cornyn ‘Personally Stands By’ O’Donnell

The National Republican Congressional Committee is set to go up with new ads this week against a pair of incumbents who had previously been considered lower tier targets this fall, providing further proof the House playing field still very fluid with 49 days to go before the elections. According to a GOP strategist who tracks ad buys, the NRCC has placed an $82,000 buy against Rep. Rick Boucher (D) in Virginia’s 9th district as well as a $45,000 buy against Rep. Mike McIntyre (D) in North Carolina’s 7th district. The ad buys are for the week of Sept. 17-23. Neither Boucher or McIntyre was included on the original list of 45 districts that the NRCC said it will target this fall with about $24 million in ad buys. Boucher faces Republican Morgan Griffith , the majority leader of the state House of Delegates. Griffith was quickly moved up the NRCC’s candidate recruitment list after he entered the contest early this year, but his fundraising has been lackluster thus far. Boucher’s southwestern Virginia district is very cultural conservative and Republicans view him as especially vulnerable because of his vote last year for a climate change bill that included a “cap and trade” system to limit greenhouse gas emissions. The inclusion of McIntyre is a bit more surprising. While the 7th district slightly favors the GOP and went for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) by 5 points in 2008, McIntyre is a conservative Blue Dog Democrat who has never earned less than 69 percent of the vote since winning his seat in 1996. Republicans have spent more time talking up their chances in the neighboring 8th district this cycle, but in a favorable environment GOP strategists may be looking to target McIntyre for supporting the controversial stimulus bill this cycle. Republicans nominated little known veteran Ilario Pantano (R) to challenge McIntyre.

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NRCC Adds Boucher and McIntyre to Ad Target List

With early voting beginning in just three weeks, Democrat Ami Bera launched his first TV ad in his quest to oust Republican Rep. Dan Lungren . The ad, described by a source as “sizable,” hits Lungren, a former state attorney general now in his second stint in Congress, for “double dipping” in taxpayer money by accepting both a Congressional salary and a pension from the state. It also knocks Lungren for accepting a 25 percent pay raise just before leaving the attorney general’s office, which increased his annual pension. “Dan Lungren,” the announcer says in the spot. “Spiking his pension, raising his pay and ‘plagued by ethics issues.’ Heard Enough?” The race is one of only a handful of California’s 53 districts considered competitive. Bera is a physician, and Lungren is running for what would be his overall ninth term in Congress. He previously did a five-term stint representing a Southern California district and has represented the Sacramento-area 3rd district since 2004.

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California: First Bera Ad Targets Lungren’s Pension

Another Tuesday in September brought another polling dump by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. A DCCC release Tuesday morning touted recent polling that showed the party in good standing in eight competitive Democratic-held districts. The release comes a week after the DCCC pushed out a dozen polls that also showed good news for Democratic incumbents around the country. The recent emphasis on polling appears to be part of a concerted effort to push back against the story line that the prospects for House Democrats have grown increasingly gloomy heading into the final stretch before Election Day. Over the past couple of months the DCCC was criticized for not releasing its poll numbers while Republicans dribbled out a steady stream of favorable survey data. Tuesday’s release included DCCC internal polling and polls conducted by Democratic campaigns. The DCCC also included outside group polling information. The release included polling from districts that have long been considered battleground targets, such as Nevada’s 3rd, as well as less high profile races like Oklahoma’s 2nd, which, despite it’s strong conservative leanings, hasn’t been considered in play so far this cycle.

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DCCC Releases New Round of Polls

In early August, CQ Politics traveled to Delaware to report on the race for Vice President Joseph Biden’s old Senate seat. At the time, Republican Rep. Mike Castle was comfortably ahead of his primary opponent, Christine O’Donnell. As you can see in this video interview, Castle was unconcerned about the impact of the tea party on tiny, moderate Delaware, and was looking ahead to the general election against Democrat Chris Coons. It just goes to show you what a difference a month makes in politics.

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What A Difference A Month Makes For Castle

WASHINGTON (AP) — Before Barack Obama there was Adrian Fenty: a young, energetic, biracial lawyer and Democrat looking to fill a top political post in Washington.

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CAPITAL CULTURE: DC mayor’s fall from public favor

The National Republican Congressional Committee’s independent expenditure arm announced Sunday it is airing new TV ads in eight districts across the country. The spots are targeting six current Members of Congress and two Democratic candidates in open-seat races. Reps. Allen Boyd in Florida’s 2nd district, Chet Edwards in Texas’ 17th district, Bobby Bright in Alabama’s 2nd district, Travis W. Childers in Mississippi’s 1st district, Tom Perriello in Virginia’s 5th district and Ann Kirkpatrick Arizona’s 1st district are the Democratic Members being targeted. All except Perriello and Kirkpatrick are in the conservative Blue Dogs Coalition. The two challengers being targeted are Roy Herron , who’s running to replace retiring Rep. John Tanner (D) in Tennessee’s 8th district, and Julie Lassa , who’s running to replace retiring Rep. David Obey (D) in Wisconsin’s 7th district. Each ad similarly ties the Democrat to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and will run in a single media market in the district.

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NRCC Ties Democrats to Pelosi in New Ads

Delaware Gov. Chris Christie and the Republican Party of Delaware have taken their gloves off in the last few days of the fight to make Rep. Mike Castle the party’s Senate nominee. A new Public Policy Polling report is expected to show Christine O’Donnell trails Castle by single digits ahead of Tuesday’s primary. “We’re going to have Republican primary numbers out in Delaware and New Hampshire late tonight and based on the first day of polling it’s clear both of these races are in single digit territory — there is not likely to be a run away winner in either,” polling director Tom Jensen wrote on the PPP blog Sunday morning. Accordingly, Delaware Republicans aren’t taking a Castle victory for granted. In a message entitled “We Need Mike Castle,” Christie, a Republican who was first elected in 2009, e-mailed Castle supporters on Sunday urging them to give to his campaign and to go to the polls on Tuesday. Republican chances of capturing the seat formerly held by Vice President Joseph Biden would diminish greatly if O’Donnell is nominated to face Democrat Chris Coons in November. “This November, Republicans in Delaware have an historic opportunity to take back the seat held by Joe Biden for 35 years and take one step closer to reclaiming a majority in the United States Senate,” he wrote. “That is why I am urging all Delaware Republicans to support my friend Mike Castle this upcoming Tuesday, September 14 by electing him as the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate.” For its part, the Delaware GOP e-mailed reporters a new story from the Weekly Standard about a wrongful termination lawsuit O’Donnell filed in 2005 against the nonprofit Intercollegiate Studies Institute. The suit alleged the institute discriminated against her because of her gender and that the end of her job led her to “seek treatment for her distress.” The Weekly Standard found that O’Donnell also lied about being accepted to a master’s program at Princeton University at the time she took the job at ISI. O’Donnell ultimately dropped her lawsuit in 2008.

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Delaware: Christie Seeks Late Boost for Castle

Nine years ago today I was a brand new, very young mother. I stood in my living room in my pajamas and watched the horror unfurl on live television, watching the fire, watching the first and then the second tower collapse, watching the Pentagon burn, seeing that a giant rut had been dug into the earth in Pennsylvania. Members of a theocracy had murdered over 3,000 Americans. They didn’t just bring their war to American soil, they brought it into American living rooms. In my living room, my five-month-old son played happily upon a blanket on the floor. It was a bizarre dichotomy: here was my innocent son, oblivious to what was happening to the country and his future. Standing over him was his young mother who thought that her biggest concern at this moment of his life would be the pain he felt from immunizations. I have been political most of my life, only I campaigned for Democrat candidates. I had campaigned for Clinton his second term. At that moment I regretted it all. I had begun a transformation 14 months ago when I became pregnant, a transformation that was completed the moment that I realized, the moment that we all as a country realized what was happening on the morning of 9/11. I became a conservative. I saw that there existed in this world a threat bigger than ear infections, a threat bigger than outgrowing clothes so quickly, a threat bigger than anything for which I could have prepared. We can all only speak from our own perspectives this day, and I can say that mine was fundamentally changed, my path in life changed, everything changed. I have more than one child now. My trajectory has changed. My living room extends beyond the walls of my home. It extends to both coasts, to both the Canadian and Mexican border. Every year we mark this somber day by remembering the men, women, and children who were murdered by an ideology that abhors freedom, that hates us with a passion greater than we can comprehend simply because we are free men. We remember the men, women, and children who did not ask for war when they simply showed up for work, for appointments, for day care that day. Their lives were politicized by an ideology who sought to burn a mark on our soil. It is our responsibility as a nation to not fall back into a false sense of safety, into apathy, romanticize the past and forget what happened. That’s the first step to ensuring that it never happens again, in our homes, in this country. Our prayers are with the families who lost loved ones nine years ago today and also with our country. Filed under: Sad , War on terror

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In Remembrance of 9/11