Leading Off:
• IA-Sen: The pro-GOP U.S. Chamber of Commerce has usually produced decent ads starring a Red State-friendly celebrity (see their KY-Sen one below). But this new one has one of the stupidest commercials I've seen in a very long time. It stars a chicken and hits Democrat Bruce Braley with something called "the chicken dance." It's hard to describe it: This is an ad you just have to see to believe.
On the other side, NextGen Climate spends $147,000. Presumably, none of that money went to the chicken dance.
Head below the fold for a poultry-free roundup of ads from races across the country
Senate:
• AK-Sen: Democratic Sen. Mark Begich stresses his independence while American Crossroads spends $191,000, almost certainly on another ad tying him to Obama.
• AR-Sen: Republican Tom Cotton continues going after Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor for his connections to Obama. Arkansas Horizon also spends $800,000 for the GOP.
• CO-Sen: Marco Rubio's PAC Reclaim America praises Republican Cory Gardner in bland conservative terms. Crossroads GPS also goes after Democratic Sen. Mark Udall on terrorism, as B-PAC spends $268,000 for the GOP. For Team Blue, FairShare Action spends $416,000.
• GA-Sen: Democrat Michelle Nunn's new spot stars her father, former Sen. Sam Nunn. Sam stresses his bipartisan record, while promoting Michelle as someone who would do the same thing. A recent PPP poll gave Sam Nunn a 54-20 favorable rating in the state, so he's not a bad surrogate.
• KS-Sen: Freedom Partners (here and here) continues to argue that a vote for independent Greg Orman is a vote for Obama. Orman's spot continues to stress his independence from party politics, while the Committee to Elect An Independent Senate spends another $414,000 on his behalf.
• KY-Sen: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce stars country music star Randy Owen praising Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell.
• LA-Sen: Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu goes after Republican Bill Cassidy for voting against the Violence Against Women Act.
• MI-Sen: The League of Conservation Voters spends another $816,000 against Republican Terri Lynn Land.
• NC-Sen: Americans for Responsible Solutions spends another $274,000 for Team Blue.
• NH-Sen: Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen stresses her work helping small businesses, while casting Republican Scott Brown as an ally of big money. On the GOP side, the misleadingly named Independent Leadership for New Hampshire spends $280,000.
• SD-Sen: All three sides have spots out. For Team Blue, Every Voice Action continues going after Republican Mike Rounds on EB-5 and spending $434,000. For the GOP, the Rounds argues that Democrat Rick Weiland won't protect a local air force base while he will.
Independent Larry Pressler touts his bipartisanship. He's also finally getting some air support from a group called Former Staffers of Larry Pressler; in a world filled with vaguely named PACs, it's nice to have one that is exactly what is says on the tin. They are spending $200,000.
• NRSC: GOP expenditures.
• Senate Majority PAC: Democratic expenditures.
Gubernatorial:
• CO-Gov: Republican Bob Beauprez attacks Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper on public safety.
• FL-Gov: The Florida GOP blames Charlie Crist for the jobs crisis during his governorship.
• IL-Gov: Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn goes positive, featuring military families praising him for coming unannounced to the funerals for fallen Illinois soldiers.
• MA-Gov: Republican Charlie Baker goes positive in Spanish.
• MD-Gov: The DGA has been spending in this unexpectedly competitive contest, and for the first time the RGA is joining in. Their new ad argues that Democrat Anthony Brown would just continue Gov. Martin O'Malley's tax-loving administration. The size of the buy is $500,000. The DGA fires back, hitting Republican Larry Hogan's economic plan.
• ME-Gov: Democrat Mike Michaud continues to run as a consensus builder.
• MI-Gov: The DGA continues to portray Republican Gov. Rick Snyder as someone who raises taxes on the most vulnerable citizens.
• RI-Gov: Republican Allan Fung stresses his work turning around the city of Cranston.
• WI-Gov: Wisconsin Manufacturers goes after Democrat Mary Burke's jobs record.
House:
• AR-04: Democrat James Lee Witt describes himself as a bipartisan problem solver.
• AZ-01: House Majority PAC spends $290,000 hitting Republican Andy Tobin on abortion. Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick also argues that Tobin doesn't stand up for the middle class.
• AZ-09: The National Association of Realtors spends $245,000 for the Democrats.
• FL-02: Democrat Gwen Graham (here and here) stakes out a middle ground on Obamacare and accuses Republican Rep. Steve Southerland is a threat to Medicare.
• FL-18: Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy runs his 3,678,645th positive ad (give or take).
• HI-01: Working Families for Hawaii spends $144,000 for the Democrats.
• MA-06: American Unity PAC spends $897,000 for the GOP.
• WV-02: We have dueling ads in this open seat race. On the Democratic side, Nick Casey continues to go after Republican Alex Mooney's carpetbagging ways. He features Sue Hecht, a former member of the Maryland House of Delegates, who tells the audience "I had the misfortune of serving with Alex Mooney in the Maryland state legislature." She describes Mooney as an ineffective partisan who got thrown out of office and fired as chairman of the Maryland Republican Party. Mooney's spot features Mike Huckabee, who describes this as a race between a liberal and a reliable conservative.
• WV-03: CounterPAC hits Democratic Rep. Nick Rahall as a hypocrite when it comes to outside spending. The group is throwing down $212,000.
• DCCC: Democratic expenditures.