Leading Off:
• IA-Sen: Democrats have largely been ignoring some of Republican Joni Ernst's more extreme or utterly insane ideas, or have just danced around them a bit. But this is a very good spot from the DSCC that goes after Ernst on one of her biggest potential vulnerabilities: Medicare.
The spot stars an Iowa senior accusing Ernst of wanting to cut Medicare and ending its guarantee. Ernst recently ran a spot where she promised to protect Social Security and Medicare for seniors, so she evidently saw this coming. We'll find out soon enough if Democrats are willing to keep zeroing in on her long list of insane ideas.
Senate:
• KY-Sen: Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes stresses her accomplishments as secretary of state and as a volunteer lawyer for victims of domestic violence. It seems like it's part of a pushback against a recent spot from Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, where he argued that she had no accomplishments.
Senate Majority PAC is up with another negative spot against McConnell. There's no narration, just text attacking McConnell on outsourcing as sad music plays. The message is fine but these "no narration spots" are often hard to pull off: Viewers are often barely paying attention while commercials are playing, and it's a lot to ask for them to sit and read along. The pro-GOP Kentucky Opportunity Coalition also drops another $118,000 here.
• LA-Sen: The DSCC hits Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy for "putting millionaires before Medicare." The NRA also throws $131,000 against Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu.
• MI-Sen: Senate Majority PAC is spending another $635,000 against Republican Terri Lynn Land.
• MN-Sen: Republican Mike McFadden's adult son describes how cheap the candidate is. The younger McFadden tells how when he needed his stitches taken out, his father was so horrified by the cost that he took scissors and did it himself. Apparently, that story is supposed to make McFadden more likable.
• NH-Sen: Ending Spending's recent ad against Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen was recently pulled from a Boston TV station for being ... not exactly true. The spot cost the group $532,000. Mayday PAC also continues to throw money into the incinerator supporting long-shot GOP primary candidate Jim Rubens, laying down another $547,000 (here and here).
• DSCC: We have independent expenditure reports for a number of key races (here and here).
Gubernatorial:
• HI-Gov: Republican Duke Aiona goes positive.
• MA-Gov: Don Berwick has largely been an afterthought in the expensive Democratic primary between frontrunner Martha Coakley and Steve Grossman. Berwick tries to change that by positioning himself above the fray in his new spot.
• WI-Gov: Democrat Mary Burke has a positive spot highlighting a program she started to train young people for college.
House:
• AR-02: Democrat Patrick Henry Hayes describes how he helped streamline government as mayor of North Little Rock.
• AZ-01, 02: The NRCC is spending $145,000 against Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, and $161,000 against Democratic Rep. Ron Barber.
• FL-02: Republican Rep. Steve Southerland's spot features a mother praising him for standing up for female victims of violence. The NRCC also throws another $102,000 down here.
• IN-02: Democrat Joe Bock once again portrays himself as someone who can stop the crisis going on in Washington.
• NY-24: Republicans acknowledge that they'll have a hard time beating Democratic Rep. Dan Maffei in this 57 percent Obama district, but Team Red has been encouraged by former federal prosecutor John Katko's fundraising. Katko just aired his first ad highlighting his background.
One less savory part of Katko's career is a 2000 incident where his gun was stolen from his car and later used in a crime that left two people dead. Katko didn't break any laws, but a Justice Department review found that he had likely failed to store his gun safely, in possible violation of federal policies. For his part Katko is saying he has no regrets about his role in the matter. In any case, this is probably not the type of story Republicans want in a race where they need everything to go right to win.
• WV-02: Democrat Nick Casey highlights how he's helped his community.