Leading Off:
• GA-Sen: In recent days both the DSCC and NRSC have made ad reservations in the Peach State, ensuring that this ad war will get even more intense.
Of course, it's not like the ad campaign was low-key to begin with. Democrat Michelle Nunn is once again taking advantage of Republican David Perdue's recent defense of his career spent outsourcing jobs, featuring mostly unfavorable news reports about Perdue.
Perdue uses his ad to defend his job record, arguing its Obama's policies that are costing Georgia jobs. The GOP-friendly Ending Spending also goes negative, arguing several times that a vote for Nunn is a vote for Obama.
Jump below the fold for more.
Senate:
• AR-Sen: The DSCC continues a recent Democratic ad campaign aimed at Republican Tom Cotton's vote against the Violence Against Women Act. Also on the Democratic side, the NEA features a teacher hitting Cotton for taking student loans but wanting to gut them now.
• AK-Sen: The DSCC goes after Republican Dan Sullivan on abortion and birth control. On the GOP side, American Crossroads continues to accuse Democratic Sen. Mark Begich for leaving Anchorage with a financial mess as mayor.
• CO-Sen Ending Spending takes quotes from The Denver Post's editorial endorsing Republican Cory Gardner to argue Democratic Sen. Mark Udall is running a one-issue campaign. Udall also has two new ads (here and here). The first focuses on Udall's fight against the NSA's data collection. The second ad hits Gardner on abortion and women's health (aka the "one-issue" the GOP says Udall is campaigning on).
• IA-Sen: The NRSC and their allies have been hitting Democrats over the rise of ISIS in several states, and they take the show to Iowa. They argue that Democrat Bruce Braley voted against funding combat operations to stop ISIS, and is lying about it now. On the Democratic side, NextGen Climate throws in $258,000.
• KS-Sen: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce commits $500,000 to help Republican Sen. Pat Roberts.
• KY-Sen: Kentuckians for Strong Leadership claims that Democrat Alison Grimes is weak when it comes to protecting coal: The size of the buy is a hefty $1,080,000. The Kentucky Opportunity Coalition also spends another $111,000 for the GOP. On the Democratic side, the United Mine Workers praise Grimes.
• LA-Sen: American Crossroads claims that Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu's vote for Obamacare severely cut Medicare, while also arguing that Landrieu has embraced Washington and left Louisiana behind.
• NC-Sen: The DSCC spends another $843,000 for Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan.
• NH-Sen: Crossroads GPS adapts an old ad they used in Arkansas months ago for use against Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. It features a spelling bee where the kid spells Shaheen as O-b-a-m-a, which the judges declare is close enough.
• SD-Sen The NRSC airs their first spot in a race they thought they had locked up months ago. It portrays both Democrat Rick Weiland and independent Larry Pressler as liberals who don't look out for South Dakota. Also for the GOP, the American Chemistry Council spends $428,000 calling Republican Mike Rounds a job creator.
• VA-Sen: Two positive spots from Democratic Sen. Mark Warner (here and here). The first highlights Warner's record helping veterans. The second features Warner's Republican predecessor, John Warner, praising Mark for putting Virginia first. The two unrelated Warners ran against each other in 1996 (one of Mark's slogans was "Mark, not John") but became friends afterwards.
• WV-Sen: Republican Shelly Moore Capito is not making the same mistake Mike Rounds made in South Dakota and assuming the race is locked up. Capito's new spot features just text from newspapers set to dramatic music tying Democrat Natalie Tennant to Obama.
• American Chemistry Council: Various pro-GOP expenditures.
Gubernatorial:
• AR-Gov: Democrat Mike Ross continues to hit Republican Asa Hutchinson on education.
• AZ-Gov: The DGA-backed Restore Arizona's Future goes after Republican Doug Ducey on education cuts.
• CA-Gov: With little money and a massive deficit in the polls, it's not a surprise that Republican Neel Kashkari is trying some... unconventional ads. This one is certainly memorable: It shows a child drowning in a pool as a metaphor of Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown not rescuing kids in failing schools. It's not the most clear or compelling argument, but it's not like Kashkari has anything to lose.
• CO-Gov: The DGA-backed Make Colorado Great has a Spanish spot against Republican Bob Beauprez.
• CT-Gov: Both major outside groups have new spots. The RGA-aligned Grow Connecticut continues to hit Democratic Gov. Dan Malloy on taxes, while the DGA-backed Connecticut Forward continues to portray Republican Tom Foley as someone who only cares about other rich people.
• FL-Gov: Two new spots from Democrat Charlie Crist (here and here). The first hits Republican Gov. Rick Scott for coming up short on his jobs promises. The second features former Republican state Rep. Mike Fasano praising him. Fasano is very popular in Pasco County, a red-leaning but competitive area.
On the other side of the aisle, the state Republican Party rolls out former Gov. Jeb Bush to promote Scott.
• HI-Gov: The NEA hits Republican Duke Aiona over former Gov. Linda Lingle's treatment of teachers and schools. Aiona serves as Lingle's lieutenant governor from 2002 to 2010.
• ID-Gov The RGA hits Democrat A.J. Balukoff, just as a poll shows Republican Gov. Butch Otter in danger.
• MA-Gov: The RGA-backed CommonWealth Future paints Democrat Martha Coakley as an out-of-touch career politician.
• MD-Gov: Democrat Anthony Brown emphasizes his war record.
• MI-Gov: The RGA goes after Democrat Mark Schauer on cap and trade, arguing it's a devastating tax.
• NH-Gov: The NRA uses one of its cookie-cutter ads against Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan.
• RI-Gov: Republican Allan Fung.
• TX-Gov: Republican Greg Abbott has two new spots (here and here). The first ties Democrat Wendy Davis to Obama. The second is a reaction to a recent Davis ad, where she argued that Abbott doesn't help victims despite suing after he was crippled. Abbot's spot features clips of media personalities condemning Davis' ad as desperate.
• WI-Gov: Republican Gov. Scott Walker continues to argue the state is recovering under him and that Democrat Mary Burke will take it backwards.
House:
• AZ-01: YG Network portrays Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick as an Obama crony.
• AZ-02: The American Action Network portrays Democratic Rep. Ron Barber as a rubber stamp for Nancy Pelosi. Barber has a negative Spanish spot against Republican Martha McSally.
• CA-07: The American Action Network goes after Democratic Rep. Ami Bera on Obamacare.
• CA-26: The American Future Fund targets Democratic Rep. Julia Brownley as a typical politician.
• CA-36: Two spots from Democratic Rep. Raul Ruiz (here and here). The first portrays him as a public servant who wants to help others, while the second is a Spanish-language ad.
• CA-52: Some very nasty accusations have been leveled at Republican Carl DeMaio in recent days, but right now the GOP is standing by him in this swing seat. The Congressional Leadership Fund calls Democratic Rep. Scott Peters "slippery," accusing him of being unethical and fiscally irresponsible.
• CT-05: The DCCC continues to feature a clip of Republican Mark Greenberg calling Social Security a failure.
• FL-02: Democrat Gwen Graham defends herself on national security.
• GA-12: The American Future Fund argues Democratic Rep. John Barrow has no accomplishments in Washington.
• IA-03: Americans for Responsible Solutions argues Republican David Young supports keeping a loophole in place that allows men convicted of domestic abuse to buy guns.
• IL-10: The Congressional Leadership Fund paints Democratic Rep. Brad Schneider as someone who hides his own taxes while wanting to raise everyone else's. Defending Mainstreet also spends $100,000 for the GOP. The DCCC fires back, portraying Republican Bob Dold! as a social conservative.
• IL-12: Republican Mike Bost ties Democratic Rep. Bill Enyart to Obama, Gov. Pat Quinn, and even Rod Blagojevich, cause why not? The DCCC goes after Bost, once again painting him as a reckless angry guy.
• IL-13, MI-01: About a week ago the DCCC canceled its ad reservations in both of these Republican-held seats. With House Majority PAC also pulling out of both districts, it looked very clear that both Democrats Ann Callis and Jerry Cannon were being triaged by the national party. However, the DCCC just released new ads in both IL-13 and MI-01.
There are plenty of valid explanations about what's happening. On the pessimistic side, this could just be the last bit of the old ad reservation that couldn't be canceled. It's also possible the reservations couldn't be canceled without a severe financial penalty and the DCCC just decided to run some last ads. On the more optimistic side, the group may have freed up some extra money and decided to use it in both seats. It's also possible that the DCCC is seeing better poll numbers coming out of both seats and has decided to wade back in. We'll definitely be watching to see if the DCCC and its allies return or if this is their last hurrah here.
• MI-01: Democrat Jerry Cannon continues to emphasize his military and law enforcement service while portraying Republican Rep. Dan Benishek as a dishonest politician.
• MT-AL: Democrat John Lewis argues he's more supportive of gun rights than Republican Ryan Zinke: Anyone watching the ad couldn't be blamed for thinking they came from the reverse parties. Zinke meanwhile paints Lewis as a Washington insider.
• NH-02: Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster goes after Republican Marilinda Garcia on education.
• NJ-02: American Unity PAC for Republican Rep. Frank LoBiondo.
• NY-19: American Unity PAC for Republican Rep. Chris Gibson.
• VA-10: The Congressional Leadership Fund jumps on Democrat John Foust for questioning if his Republican opponent Barbara Comstock ever had a real job. The spot features a female lawyer arguing that Foust's comments were sexist. Foust portrays Comstock as unethical.
• Congressional Leadership Fund: Speaker John Boehner's allied super PAC the Congressional Leadership Fund is joining with the American Action Network to spend a total of $1.6 million in AZ-01, AZ-02, NY-01, and TX-23.
• House Majority PAC: The pro-Democratic group is airing new spots in 10 districts, and they've helpfully provided the size of the buy for each seat. We have AZ-01 for $423,000; AZ-09 for $337,000; CA-31 for $112,000; CO-06 for $551,000; NE-02 for $92,000; NY-23 for $49,000; NY-24 for $58,000; TX-23 for $153,000; VA-10 for $737,000; and WV-03 for $229,000.
As we recently noted, HMP's ad buys in CO-06 and VA-10 come just after the DCCC canceled its own reservations in both GOP-held seats. HMP is spending the two largest amounts in both these districts, and it looks like this was a case of the DCCC handing off the races to HMP rather than giving up on them.
• NRCC: The Republicans have a truckload of new ads in AZ-01, AZ-02, FL-02 (here and here), FL-26, GA-12, IA-03, IL-12, ME-02, MN-07, MN-08, NH-01, NY-21, TX-23, and WV-03. Only FL-02 and IA-03 are held by the Republicans.