Leading Off:
• SD-Sen: Either Republican Mike Rounds is a firm believer in rapid response, or he's worried about Democratic attacks on him. A few days ago, Every Voice Action accused Rounds of awarding EB-5 immigration visa cards to his corrupt allies in a $200,000 spot (David Montgomery of the Argus Leader has the background to the EB-5 matter here). Rounds has quickly struck back with a new ad. The narrator spends half the time decrying how outside groups are attacking Rounds, before pushing back. The narrator lays out what he says are the facts, arguing that EB-5 doesn't sell citizenship and no federal money was missing.
It's not the most effective pushback. For one thing, it's pretty hard to get voters to care about outside groups. Democrats spent much of 2010 going on about how rich anonymous groups were trying to buy the election, for all the good it did. Voters said they were bothered by the idea of wealthy groups airing attack ads, but they didn't care enough to change their votes over it. For another thing, the response to the charges themselves is weak. By repeating the original attacks, Rounds is almost certainly helping keep them in circulation rather than debunking them. It's rarely a good idea to take someone's accusation against you and just add an "I did not" in front of them, and hope that they go away.
This isn't the first time Rounds has quickly and somewhat clumsily pushed back on EB-5. In early September, Democratic opponent Rick Weiland also accused Rounds of being part of a corrupt scheme to sell EB-5s to the highest bidder: Rounds' very defensive-sounding response indicated that he was legitimately worried about the attack. Now, Rounds is doing it all over again. EB-5 may not be Rounds' Achilles Heel, but he's sure acting like it is.
Senate:
• AK-Sen: Democratic Sen. Mark Begich features his mom and wife debating if he's frugal or cheap. Also on the Democratic side, Put Alaska First hits Republican Dan Sullivan for not respecting women's privacy when it comes to their health decisions.
• IA-Sen: Democrat Bruce Braley responds to Republican attacks on his attendance record in the House, arguing that he's shown up for important meetings while Republican Joni Ernst is the one who didn't show up for work in the legislature.
It's a very good bet Ernst or her allies will push back, saying that she was serving in the military so she couldn't vote in the legislature. That's because this matter came up in the GOP primary: However, we found out back in April that only 12 of the 117 votes Ernst missed were during her service in the Army National Guard. The issue didn't hurt her back then, but we'll see if it makes a difference this time around.
• KY-Sen: Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell features an elderly couple praising the senator for helping them with Medicare. The National Association of Realtors also pitches in $1,776,000 to help McConnell.
• MI-Sen: Republican Terri Lynn Land talks about protecting jobs.
• NC-Sen: Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan talks to the camera and talks about her agenda. Hagan addresses what she calls false attack ads the way most candidates should.
Without repeating the attacks, she says she wants to create jobs, stands up for veterans, and protects Medicare and Social Security. Too many candidates instead repeat negative charges while trying to debunk them, giving the original attacks oxygen: Think how much better "I protect Medicare" sounds compared to, "I never voted to cut Medicare," for instance. For a look at how not to respond to negative ads, see the SD-Sen item.
Republican Thom Tillis also talks to the camera, decrying Hagan's attacks and tying her to Obama. To his credit, Tillis also does a good job pushing back on Democratic charges that he cut school funding and teacher pay.
• NH-Sen: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce goes after Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen on Obamacare.
Gubernatorial:
• AZ-Gov: Democrat Fred DuVal hits Republican Doug Ducey on education cuts.
• CT-Gov: The RGA-backed Grow Connecticut has two Spanish spots (here and here) against Democratic Gov. Dan Malloy.
• FL-Gov: Democrat Charlie Crist portrays Republican Gov. Rick Scott as a dishonest fraudster.
• IL-Gov: Holy crap, a positive ad?! It's true: Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn talks about the state's economic recovery. Quinn also has a Spanish spot against Republican Bruce Rauner.
• KS-Gov: Kansas Values hits Republican Sam Brownback for the condition of the state economy.
• SC-Gov: Democrat Vincent Sheheen decries Republican Gov. Nikki Haley's education policies.
House:
• AZ-02: Republican Martha McSally has former Democratic voters praising her.
• FL-26: Both candidates go negative here. Democratic Rep. Joe Garcia accuses GOP rival Carlos Curbelo of being a tea party ally. Curbelo portrays Garcia as corrupt, briefly citing a scandal involving the congressman's former chief-of-staff.
• IL-12: The DCCC again portrays Republican Mike Bost as an unhinged lunatic while attacking his record.
• MN-08: The NRCC throws a lot at Democratic Rep. Rock Nolan, accusing him of cutting funding to fight Al Qaeda, and voting against VA funding and work requirements.
• NY-24: The NRCC hits Democratic Rep. Dan Maffei on immigration and terrorism.
• VA-10: For the most part, Republican Barbara Comstock does what most candidates do: decries how desperate and negative her opponent is, then talks about how great she is. But Comstock calls Democrat John Foust's attacks sexist, among other things, without even hinting at what he supposedly said.
What Comstock is referring to is Foust questioning if she has “even had a real job. To voters watching the ad who haven't heard about that incident (or don't agree its sexist), it may look like Comstock is the one who's desperate and negative.