Leading Off:
• KS-Gov: It was only a matter of time before Republicans hit Democrat Paul Davis over this embarrassing story from his past that recently came to light. About a week ago, the Coffeyville Journal reported that Davis was at a strip club in 1998 when police were raiding it. Davis was unmarried at the time and says his boss brought him there. With Republican Gov. Sam Brownback trailing in the polls, it's no surprise that the GOP would use this to try and disqualify Davis.
The RGA spot starts with a clip of Davis saying that "the best example of future behavior is past behavior," then cuts to clips of news reports about the strip club story. The narrator then accuses Davis of voting against a bill that would prevent sexually oriented businesses from opening near homes, churches, and day cares. This is a decent line of attack given how socially conservative Kansas is, though after watching this spot it doesn't feel like the GOP has enough material to really destroy Davis' chances.
The NRA also goes up for Brownback. For his part Davis himself has a new spot, blaming Brownback for the poor condition of Kansas' education system.
Head below the fold for more ads in contests from around the country.
Senate:
• AK-Sen: The DSCC hits Republican Dan Sullivan on women's reproductive rights, while Put Alaska First goes after him on women's health. Democratic Sen. Mark Begich's spot features Bella Hammond, the widow of former Republican Gov. Jay Hammond, praising the senator's independence.
• AR-Sen: The NRSC impressively makes it through an entire 30-second spot against Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor without mentioning Obama or Obamacare.
• CO-Sen: The NRSC hits Democratic Sen. Mark Udall on national security, accusing him of not taking terrorism seriously. Also for Team Red, Crossroads GPS spends a hefty $1,380,000. On the Democratic side, Planned Parenthood Votes accuses Republican Cory Gardner of being an extremist on birth control. The group has $608,000 behind the ad.
• IA-Sen: The Sierra Club once again ties Republican Joni Ernst to the Koch brothers, while featuring clips of Ernst calling for shutting down the EPA and being open to privatizing Social Security. The ad probably would be more effective if they only ran with one theme, emphasizing Ernst's insanity or ties to the Koch's harmful policies: By going with both, the spot doesn't really flow that well. NextGen Climate also spends another $175,000 against Ernst.
• KS-Sen: Republican Sen. Pat Roberts goes after independent Greg Orman, tying him to Obama and Harry Reid and accusing him of being weak on immigration. Weirdly, the narrator refers to "politician Greg Orman". Yes, anyone who runs for office is by definition a politician, but given that Roberts has been in Congress for 34-years while Orman has never been elected to anything, it's a very weird line of attack. Also for Team Red, the NRA praises Roberts.
• KY-Sen: The DSCC portrays Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell as a creature of Washington, while Senate Majority PAC accuses McConnell of trying to privatize Social Security and raise the retirement age.
On the GOP side, Kentuckians for Strong Leadership continues the recent Republican offensive against Democrat Alison Grimes on immigration. McConnell also accuses Grimes of being like Obama and running for an office she wasn't qualified for after pledging not to.
• MI-Sen: AFSCME spends $512,000 against Republican Terri Lynn Land; the group recently ran this spot.
• NC-Sen: Republican Thom Tillis has been narrowly but consistently trailing Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan in the polls, and his allies at Crossroads GPS are willing to spend big to turn things around. The group has just launched a $5 million buy in what they describe as a "multi-week effort in the final stretch".
Their spot starts by hitting Hagan for voting for Obamacare, and then praises Tillis' record on healthcare. The NRSC also contrasts Hagan with Tillis, portraying Tillis as a doer not a talker. Most outside group ads have been completely negative and it's interesting that both organizations are using so much of their ads to promote Tillis. PPP has found Tillis' personal favorability numbers to be in the gutter: If the GOP is seeing something similar it makes sense that they'd want to improve Tillis' image before it's too late.
On the Democratic side, Senate Majority PAC hits Tillis once again on Medicare: The size of the buy is $551,000.
• NH-Sen: Senate Majority PAC goes after Republican Scott Brown on women's healthcare. The NRA hits Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen on what else, guns.
• OR-Sen: Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley goes after Republican Monica Wehby for plagiarizing her plans from Karl Rove, describing the plans as harmful.
• VA-Sen: Democratic Sen. Mark Warner has consistently led Republican Ed Gillespie in the polls, but he evidently takes his rival seriously enough to attack him in two spots (here and here). In the first ad, Warner defends himself from Gillespie's attacks while briefly reminding viewers that Gillespie was an Enron lobbyist. The second is all about Enron and ties Gillespie to their scandal.
Gillespie himself accuses Warner of wanting to tax coal. Virginia's coal belt has become a reliably Republican area and if Gillespie is going to have any shot at winning, he'll need to do very well there.
• WV-Sen: Democrat Natalie Tennant portrays Republican Shelley Moore Capito as being too close to corrupt bankers, with the narrator accusing Capito of giving her banker husband insider tips. Capito quickly fires back, saying Tennant is attacking her family and lying about her.
Gubernatorial:
• FL-Gov: The Florida Republican Party features clips of Democrat Charlie Crist and Obama saying nice things about one another.
• HI-Gov: The RGA hits Democrat David Ige on taxes.
• IL-Gov: Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn continues to focus on his efforts to help towns that were devastated by tornadoes.
• NE-Gov: Republican Pete Ricketts features retiring Sen. and former Gov. Mike Johanns saying nice things about him.
• NM-Gov: Republican Gov. Susana Martinez continues to paint Democrat Gary King as corrupt. Martinez has posted clear leads in what polling there is, and King's campaign has pretty much collapsed. However, Martinez's strategy of utterly nuking King has brought her this far, so why stop now?
• NY-Gov: Republican Rob Astorino completely rips off Lyndon Johnson's infamous Daisy Girl ad from 1964. And I mean completely: There's the girl counting rose peddles, the ominous countdown and the explosion. The difference is the narrator asks if New York can risk re-electing Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo when he may wind up in jail.
• PA-Gov: Republican Gov. Tom Corbett continues to attack Democrat Tom Wolf on taxes, and the spot is actually kind of funny. It has various people sarcastically saying how they love what Wolf is doing. For example one woman declares, "If it comes down to saving for my kid's college of paying higher taxes, I'm picking higher taxes every time."
• TX-Gov: Republican Greg Abbott goes positive on education.
• WI-Gov: The RGA continues to hit Democrat Mary Burke over her jobs plan. The plan in question was lifted from other Democratic campaigns word-for-word: According to Burke's campaign, a now-former adviser wrote each plan. The RGA spot features clips of Burke talking about her plan and integrity, intercut with snippets of reporters talking about how the plan was copied.
Burke herself addresses the attacks head on. She accuses Republican Gov. Scott Walker of presiding over a terrible economy before telling viewers that of course her jobs plan took ideas from other states. Burke says she wants to use the best ideas, and if Walker had done the same thing they wouldn't be in this mess. She then invites people to take a look at her plan themselves.
House:
• FL-18: Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy cranks out yet another positive ad.
• IA-03: Democrat Staci Appel goes positive on education.
• IA-04: Democrat Jim Mowrer goes negative against Republican Rep. Steve King for the first time. He hits King for shutting down the government, opposing a minimum wage increase, and taking congressional perks.
• IL-17: Republican Bobby Schilling.
• LA-05: Republican Rep. Vance McAllister criticizes Obama on immigration and calls for repealing and replacing Obamacare. The Club for Growth ad recently ran an ad painting McAllister as a liberal: The congressman faces several other Republicans in the November jungle primary.
• NY-01: The American Action Network features two men identified as small businesspersons blaming Democratic Rep. Tim Bishop for what Obamacare has done to their companies.
• NY-18: Republican Nan Hayworth accuses Democratic Rep. Sean Maloney for voting to cut both pensions for veterans and Medicare. Maloney himself features a disabled veteran praising the congressman for helping him.
• NY-19: Democrat Sean Eldridge accuses Republican Rep. Chris Gibson of being in the pocket of his campaign donors.
• VA-10: Republican Barbara Comstock goes positive, touting her record.
• WA-04: Dan Newhouse accuses fellow Republican Clint Didier of wanting to phase out Social Security. The two are locked in an interparty general election and Newhouse is trying to appeal to Democrats and independents while still taking enough Republicans to beat the tea partying Didier.
• WV-03: Democratic Rep. Nick Rahall emphasizes his support from the NRA.
• DCCC: New spots in AR-02, FL-02 (here and here), IA-03, IL-13, IL-17, and NH-02. Only IL-17 and NH-02 are Democratic-held.
• NRCC: New pro-GOP spots in AZ-02, FL-02, IA-03, ME-02, NY-19, NY-21, VA-10, and WV-03. Half the seats are Republican held, and half are Democratic held. We also have various expenditures from the group.