The ad war in Arkansas for next year's U.S. Senate race is already taking place. Tea Party Congressman Tom Cotton (R. AR) is already going after Senator Mark Pryor (D. AR) for his support for the Affordable Care Act:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) released the first TV ad of his Senate campaign over the weekend, a 30-second spot that slams Sen. Mark Pryor (D) over President Obama's health-care law.
The ad notes that while Pryor voted for the health-care law, he voted against a House Republican bill that would have stripped health-care subsidies for lawmakers.
"What's good for the goose ought to be good for the gander. But not in Washington," says the narrator of the spot.
What the ad doesn't mention is that the vote on subsides was tied to funding the government at the desire of House Republicans. Senate Democrats, demanding a clean stopgap spending bill, rejected the measure in the vote the ad cites, which was taken last week. - Washington Post, 10/8/13
Ok, now here's a little background info regarding Cotton's ad:
http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/...
The debate centers on a part of the 2010 overhaul that requires members of Congress and their staff to purchase their insurance through the exchanges set up under the law. The law, however, did not say what would happen to the employer contribution that Congress and its employees currently receive.
The Office of Personnel Management in August proposed that the federal government will continue to pay its standard share of premiums. That proposal, however, has been met with criticism from Cotton and other Republicans who have called it a special subsidy for Washington.
The claim that this amounts to an exemption for Congress has been disputed by FactCheck.Org, which notes that the contribution doesn't change the requirement that Congress and its staff participate in the exchanges.
Cotton has backed legislation to block the government from continuing that contribution and has said he and his staff won't accept it. Pryor and the Democratic-led Senate have rejected Republican efforts to strip the contributions as part of a spending bill. The federal government has been shut down for the past week over the GOP efforts to block funding or delay the health law.
"Only Congressman Cotton is arrogant enough to think that Arkansans won't see his blatantly false political attack for what it is: a weak attempt to distract from his irresponsible votes to gut Social Security and Medicare, kill the Farm Bill and end affordable student loans on behalf of his Washington special interest handlers," Pryor campaign manager Jeff Weaver said in a statement released by the campaign.
Pryor has criticized Cotton for opposing an initial version of the Farm Bill and only backing it after funding was stripped out for food stamps. He also has criticized the Republican challenger for opposing a measure that would lower the costs of college borrowing for millions of students and for supporting the House Republican budget plan in March that would turn Medicare into a voucher-like system for beneficiaries born in 1959 or later. - Arkansas Business, 10/8/13
The Club for Growth, Cotton's big sugar daddy, is also out with their own ad going after Pryor:
But Pryor has been fighting back against Cotton and the Club for Growth with his own ad featured above:
http://thehill.com/...
Pryor's ad attacks Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) — his likely 2014 opponent — for missing House votes and for the government shutdown, hitting back at an ObamaCare-themed ad the freshman congressman released over the weekend.
"Silly. Bogus. Tom Cotton has chosen to play Washington politics and not tell the truth. It's not just that he's running frivolous ads at this critical time, but when Congress was debating to shut down the government, where was Tom? Down in Houston raising big bucks from Texas fat cats, missing votes in Congress and not doing his job. Tom Cotton: just reckless and irresponsible," Pryor's ad says.
Pryor's campaign fired back against the Club's ad.
"When the Club for Growth asked Congressman Cotton to vote against the Farm Bill, student loans and disaster relief, he agreed to sell out Arkansans, so it should be no surprise that they're spending millions to buy a politician who will always do their bidding," Pryor spokesman Erik Dorey said. "This ad is false, and just like Congressman Cotton, it was paid for by Washington special interests." - The Hill, 10/8/13
Pryor is one of the GOP's top targets so you can sure bet they are going to spend a lot of money to defeat him with more false ads. Lets help Pryor keep his ad on the air so we can expose Cotton as the Tea Party extremist he really is. You can click here to donate and get involved with Pryor's campaign:
http://pryorforsenate.com/