Leading Off:
• SD-Sen: Republican Mike Rounds has been roundly criticized (sorry) for taking this contest for granted and not going negative against either Democrat Rick Weiland or independent Larry Pressler. Rounds is trying to rectify that and he has two new spots (here and here). Both spots lump Weiland and Pressler together, portraying them as liberals on energy, Obamacare, and guns. The quality of both ads is pretty lousy, only showing pictures of the three candidates and some text.
The DSCC recently committed $1 million to this contest and they're out with their first spot. They go after Rounds on his ethics, accusing him of doing special favors for his cronies. The ad invoked the EB-5 scandal, which is a major reason Rounds is struggling in this red state.
Head below the fold for a roundup of ads from contests across the country.
Senate:
• AK-Sen: Alaska's Energy, America's Values returns with three spots (here, here, and here) in support of Republican Dan Sullivan. On the Democratic side, Alaska Salmon PAC throws in another $245,000.
• AR-Sen: Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor portrays Republican Tom Cotton as an ally of billionaires who votes against regular people. Cotton himself invokes ISIS again, and he promises to hold Obama accountable on terrorism. The ad notably features several clips of ISIS members in combat.
• CO-Sen: The League of Conservation Voters spends $400,000 for Democratic Sen. Mark Udall.
• IA-Sen: The DSCC goes after Republican Joni Ernst on education, featuring a clip of her calling for shutting down the Department of Education. The spot also accuses her of wanting to slash student loans. NextGen Climate also throws in another $252,000 against Ernst. For their part, Senate Majority PAC cancels $215,000 reserved for Democrat Bruce Braley for one week. Given how much Democratic money is going into this state, it looks like this is more of a hand off than a triage.
• KS-Sen: Independent Greg Orman features current Republican state Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger vouching for him. On the GOP side, the American Hospital Association spends $207,000 for Sen. Pat Roberts.
• KY-Sen: Democrat Alison Grimes has two new spots (here and here). The first pushes back on Republican attacks on her over immigration, accusing Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of being the one to support amnesty. The second ad features Wendell Ford, the state's last Democratic senator, contrasting Grimes with McConnell. The American Food United Food and Commercial Workers International Union also spends $125,000 against McConnell.
McConnell fires back, and takes advantage of a recent Grimes interview with the Louisville Courier-Journal where she wouldn't say if she voted for Obama. The spot features clips of reporters (including Meet the Press' Chuck Todd) criticizing Grimes, cut with video of Grimes looking evasive.
• LA-Sen: Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu has four CEOs (three of them Republicans) arguing that the state can't afford to lose her. Republican Bill Cassidy goes negative, once again tying Landrieu to Obama.
• MI-Sen: Democrat Gary Peters goes after Republican Terri Lynn Land on women's health. The woman at the end punctuates the attacks with "really," a not too-subtle nod to Land's infamous "Really?" ad.
• MN-Sen: Democratic Sen. Al Franken.
• NC-Sen: The NRSC throws an extra $6 million into this contest. On the blue side, Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan pushes back of Republican attempts to paint her as weak on terrorism, accusing Republican Thom Tillis of having no plan for dealing with ISIS.
• NH-Sen: The League of Conservation Voters portrays Republican Scott Brown as an out-of-state politician who is in the pocket of out-of-state oil interests. Also on the Democratic side, the Council for American Job Growth praises Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen for looking out for veterans. Shaheen herself continues to go after Brown on abortion and other women's health issues.
• NRSC: The GOP is reserving $7.4 million for the last three weeks of the campaign across six state: Alaska, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Dakota.
Gubernatorial:
• AK-Gov: Republican Gov. Sean Parnell has two spots (here and here) in his unexpectedly competitive race against independent Bill Walker. The first spot praises Parnell for going forward with a successful energy project while accusing Walker of wanting to renegotiate the job. The second highlights Parnell's Interior Energy Project while arguing Walker has no plan for bringing energy to areas like Fairbanks.
• AR-Gov: The RGA goes after Democrat Mike Ross on Obamacare. In Congress Ross was one of Obamacare's big obstacles and was one of the few Democrats to vote to repeal it (albeit in a bill that everyone understood would never pass). Of course Ross is a Democrat so of course the RGA would attack him over this no matter what.
• CO-Gov: The NRA features a violent crime survivor accusing Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper of passing his gun control law even after hearing her testimony against it.
• CT-Gov: Republican Tom Foley appears with his family in a rare positive ad.
• GA-Gov: Democrat Jason Carter calls himself a fiscal conservative while hitting Republican Gov. Nathan Deal on education once again. The NRA praises Deal for signing a firearms law.
• HI-Gov: Republican Duke Aiona alludes to the tough decisions he's made as a judge.
• IL-Gov: Republican Bruce Rauner accuses Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn of planning to raises taxes after the election. Quinn himself is up with a Spanish ad hitting Rauner of being a selfish rich guy. Even if you don't speak Spanish, the imagery makes the spot's theme very clear.
• KS-Gov: Democrat Paul Davis features law enforcement officers praising him.
• ME-Gov: Democrat Mike Michaud has been on the receiving end of plenty of attacks on immigration. Michaud calls them false before decrying the state of the economy under Republican Gov. Paul LePage.
• WI-Gov: The pro-Democratic Greater Wisconsin has two new spots (here and here). The first goes after Republican Gov. Scott Walker on farms, while the second hits him for repealing an equal pay law. Democrat Mary Burke has two new spots as well (here and here). The first highlights her work building up her family company Trek Bicycle while the second ad continues to hit Walker on the state economy.
House:
• AZ-02: Both candidates have a new commercial. Democratic Rep. Ron Barber highlights his work on border security, while Republican Martha McSally features retirees vouching for her on Social Security and Medicare. Americans for Responsible Solutions also spends $239,000 for Barber.
• FL-02: Republican Rep. Steve Southerland accuses Democrat Gwen Graham of being weak on national security.
• FL-18: Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy defends his attendance record and independence.
• FL-26: Two GOP groups are spending against Democratic Rep. Joe Garcia. The American Action Network is up with $579,000, while American Unity PAC spends $237,000.
• GA-12: Republican Rick Allen accuses Democratic Rep. John Barrow of lying about his support for No Budget, No Pay.
• IL-10: Republican Bob Dold(!) promotes himself as an independent voice while accusing Democratic Rep. Brad Schneider of being a party hack. The spot features Sen. Mark Kirk, who used to represent the area, vouching for Dold.
• MN-08: Two new spots from Republican Stewart Mills (here and here). The first spot has a friend of Mills defending his business background (while conceding that Democratic attacks on Mills' hair are funny). The second has Mills speaking to the camera, attacking Democratic Rep. Rick Nolan on the economy while defending his hair. Nolan goes positive and portrays himself as an influential bipartisan representative.
• NC-06: Democrat Laura Fjeld.
• NH-02: The Club For Growth spent big to get Marilinda Garcia through the Republican primary, and it's no surprise they're back for the general. The group is spending $750,000, accusing Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster of wanting to raise other people's taxes while not paying them herself.
• NY-01: Democratic Rep. Tim Bishop defends his ethics.
• NY-21: Republican Elise Stefanik talks about her new ideas for Congress, most of which sound very old. Stefanik is also the latest candidate to film an ad while driving, which doesn't exactly seem very safe.
• NY-23: Republican Rep. Tom Reed continues to hit Democrat Martha Robertson as an "extreme Ithaca liberal," while the National Association of Realtors spends $334,000 on his behalf.
• TX-23: Republican Will Hurd emphasizes his combat record and pledges to fix the mess in Washington.
• VA-10: Republican Barbara Comstock accuses Democrat John Foust of wanting to raise taxes on basically everything.
• WV-02: The ad war in this contest can basically be summed up as "Democrat Nick Casey is an Obama drone and Republican Alex Mooney is a carpetbagger from Maryland." This time Casey is the one with a new spot, accusing Mooney of wanting to privatize Social Security while reminding viewers that the Republican is a career politician from The Old Line State.
• DCCC: New Democratic ads in AZ-02, CA-26, FL-02, IA-03, and NY-11. We also have expenditures from the group.
• NRCC: New GOP ads in CO-06, NE-02, and NY-24. We also have expenditures from the group.
