Iowa Democrat Patty Judge has her first television ads up in Iowa against Sen. Chuck Grassley. She's got about $55,000 behind them for broadcast television, and about the same amount for cable. They're good, funny ads, and they're about to be drowned out by Grassley.
His campaign has booked spots in the Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Quad Cities markets — covering 62 of Iowa’s 99 counties and almost all its major population centers — beginning on Sept. 5 and running through Election Day.
Those buys total more than $1.4 million and include 3,200 individual spots, meaning Judge’s current outlay amounts to less than 4 percent of the Grassley barrage to come.
One reason for the massive disparity in the campaigns’ ad spending: finances.
Judge had just more than $228,000 in the bank at the end of June, the most recent campaign finance reporting deadline. Grassley, by contrast, was sitting on $5.9 million.
Iowans won't be able to avoid that sour-puss mug, at least not on their TVs. They won't see much of him in person, particularly in the state's most populous counties, where he's been avoiding having public meetings. A TV ad blitz is the perfect way for Grassley to get his face in front of Iowans, and not have to answer any of their tricky questions. Like why he's been refusing to give President Obama's Supreme Court nominee a simple committee hearing for 156 days.
Grassley's let his big war chest, and his big contributors, do his talking for him.
Please donate $3 today to help Patty Judge end Grassley's career.