Leading Off:
• ME-Gov: The DGA-backed Maine Forward calls Republican Gov. Paul LePage an embarrassment. It's a pretty good greatest hits collection for LePage: It reminds viewers that the governor twice compared the IRS to the Nazis, called legislators idiots, and told the NAACP to kiss his butt. The spot then briefly praises Democrat Mike Michaud as a consensus builder.
More below the fold.
Senate:
• AK-Sen: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce stars Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul. Paul doesn't say anything beyond the usual "Democratic Sen. Mark Begich is a liberal, vote for Republican Dan Sullivan." However, with Libertarian Mark Fish scooping up some voters Sullivan could use, it's no surprise that the Chamber brought Paul, the crown prince of the Ayn Rand wing of the GOP, in to help.
• AR-Sen: The Emergency Committee for Israel portrays Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor as weak against foreign threats, while promoting Republican Tom Cotton's military service. This is far from the first time the group has heaped out some good old-fashioned fearmongering, though they haven't had much luck when it comes to actually winning elections.
• CO-Sen: The League of Conservation Voters throws another $517,000 against Republican Cory Gardner. Democratic Sen. Mark Udall addresses the camera, calling for policies that respect women's choices and give them the opportunity to succeed.
• IA-Sen: The DSCC spends $325,000 against Republican Joni Ernst.
• IA-Sen, NC-Sen: Oh, this is awesome. The group Conservative War Chest is up with two more editions of their infamous Gang of Five ads, which manage to cram in every conservative conspiracy theory about Obama this side of birtherism. If you haven't seen them yet you owe it to yourself to watch: Here's their spot in Iowa.
• KS-Sen: Republican Sen. Pat Roberts airs yet another spot linking independent Greg Orman to Obama as closely as he possibly can. This one has a clip of Obama saying that his policies are on the ballot this year, before the narrator tells the audience that Orman is Obama's candidate. This time the ad doesn't bother to argue why a vote for Orman is a vote for Obama.
• KY-Sen: Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell links Democrat Alison Grimes to Obama, with that clip of Obama saying his policies are on the ballot. Expect to see this clip in a lot of GOP ads for the rest of the cycle.
• LA-Sen: With it looking very likely that no candidate in this contest will win the majority in November they need to win outright, it's no surprise that groups are already preparing for the December runoff between Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu and Republican Bill Cassidy. On the GOP side, Ending Spending has reserved $2.4 million while the NRA has shelled out $1 million. Expect a lot more reservations from both sides in the coming weeks.
• MI-Sen: Ending Spending shells out another $643,000 against Democrat Gary Peters.
• NC-Sen: Republican Thom Tillis continues to argue that Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan did nothing to stop ISIS from growing. The ad features a veteran, who is also the mother of a Marine, arguing that Hagan went along with Obama as he underestimated ISIS. On the Democratic side The League of Conservation Voters spends $789,000.
• NH-Sen: Ending Spending is the latest group to invoke ISIS in their ads. They argue that Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen hasn't shown up for critical meetings on national security.
• VA-Sen: Republican Ed Gillespie.
• Senate Majority PAC: Pro-Democratic expenditures.
Gubernatorial:
• CO-Gov: The DGA-backed Make Colorado Great goes after Republican Bob Beauprez on abortion and birth control.
• FL-Gov: Democrat Charlie Crist continues to hit Republican Gov. Rick Scott on his old company's Medicare fraud, while the NRA hits Crist on (guess what) guns.
• MD-Gov: The DGA recently announced they would spend another $400,000 here on top of the $750,000 they already spent against Republican Larry Hogan, a sign that this contest isn't as secure for Democrat Anthony Brown as they'd like it to be. The group's new spot portrays Hogan as a reckless conservative out of step with this blue state.
• WI-Gov: Democrat Mary Burke emphasizes her business background.
House:
• AZ-02: The DCCC spends $134,000 against Republican Martha McSally.
• CA-31: Democrat Pete Aguilar goes after Republican Paul Chabot on education. This race has been viewed as a likely Democratic pickup but the DCCC and now Aguilar have been airing spots against Chabot: Maybe they're just being cautious, but it could indicate this race isn't in the bag yet.
• FL-02: Two spots from Democrat Gwen Graham (here and here). In the first, Graham calls for changing Obamacare so it works, pushing back on Republican attempts to paint her as a blind Obamacare supporter. The second has Graham calling for some common sense in this "messed up Congress."
• IL-13: Republican Rep. Rodney Davis emphasizes his work helping veterans find jobs.
• NH-02: Republican Marilinda Garcia decries the national debt and argues she'll be an independent leader.
• NY-04: Democrat Kathleen Rice.
• TN-04: Democrat Lenda Sherrell.
• WV-03: House Majority PAC portrays Republican Evan Jenkins as not caring about miners and seniors.