If Democrat Jason Kander doesn’t win the Missouri Senate race, it won’t be because the military veteran didn’t run enough good ads. His latest offering stars retired Army Col. John McCracken Sr., who identifies himself as Kander’s commander in Afghanistan. McCracken tells the audience that, “In the Army, we don’t care if you’re a Democrat or a Republican. We just want to know that you’re going to be there when the going gets tough.”
McCracken continues by saying that in Afghanistan, Kander’s military intelligence work “saved lives, and he always chose the toughest assignments. We need that kind of courage in Washington again.” McCracken then insists that attack ads are trying to make Kander something he’s not, but “he’s a solider. And he’s the kind of change we need in the Senate.” This ad doesn’t mention Republican Sen. Roy Blunt. However, Team Blue has been trying to frame this contest as a battle between a veteran who risked his life in combat and a political insider who has gotten rich in D.C., and ads like this are a key part of that strategy.
Republicans have a pretty simple strategy too. Polls show that Donald Trump is likely, though not certain, to carry the Show Me State, and Republicans want to do everything they can to make sure Kander doesn’t pick up enough Trump votes to win. The conservative Senate Leadership Fund is out with their latest spot, and it once again ties Kander to Hillary Clinton.
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As Kander and Clinton’s faces are shown merging into one, the narrator insists they’re the same type of person. He then throws a litany of charges at Kander and Clinton. In short, they’re always running for office, voting against lower taxes, spending millions for Obamacare and undocumented immigrants, taking money from lawyers, and backing liberal Supreme Court justices. The narrator concludes by declaring, “One Hillary in Washington would be bad enough. Reject Jason Kander.”
But while Republicans have spent millions tying Kander to national Democrats, Kander is accepting support from at least one high-profile politician. Kander has issued a Biden Alert!, and announced that the vice president will campaign for him in St. Louis on Friday. Biden also stumped for Kander last month.