Leading Off:
• IA-03: Republican David Young is out with his first spot in this swing district and it's a little weird. Young spends most of the ad decrying how much Washington sucks (never mind that he spent 17 years working in the Senate).
But Young seems to have been really hungry when he filmed the ad. He talks about Iowans wanting a good meal at three different points, and has a shot of someone eating chicken as well as kids finishing up their meal. As Young talks, there's a basket of food next to him. If you watch the commercial with the sound off, you can be forgiven for thinking that Young is promoting a diner rather than a campaign.
Senate:
• AK-Sen: The DSCC hits Republican Dan Sullivan on Medicare, with the wife of a man suffering from Alzheimer accusing Sullivan of trying to make their lives tougher. Sullivan's spot features a teacher praising his accomplishment as state attorney general in getting the state its money back during the Great Recession.
• AR-Sen: Republican Rep. Tom Cotton has two new spots (here and here). The first is positive, featuring his mom and touting his support for protecting Social Security and Medicare. The second accuses Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor of voting to allow undocumented immigrants to get Social Security benefits. Crossroads GPS also spends another $184,000 against Pryor.
On the Democratic side, Pryor touts his work in protecting Medicare, pushing back on Republican attacks that he cut it.
• IA-Sen: Bruce Braley must have eaten a lot of Wheaties this week, since he has another spot portraying Republican Joni Ernst as batshit insane. This ad accuses Ernst of working to outlaw all abortion and trying to ban many forms of birth control. On the GOP side, the NRSC also invokes Obamacare to accuse Braley of voting to cut Medicare. Freedom Partners also hits Braley for skipping Veteran's Affairs Committee meetings while praising Ernst's military service.
• KY-Sen: We have the price tag for a recent VoteVets spot against Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell: $300,000.
• NH-Sen: The DSCC hits Republican Scott Brown on Social Security. Mayday PAC also spends yet another $216,000 for former state Sen. Jim Rubens, who is considered a serious longshot in the Sept. 9 Republican primary against Brown. Either they're seeing some real movement here, or Mayday founder Lawrence Lessig is allergic to money.
• OR-Sen: Freedom Partners attacks Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley on the national debt.
• SD-Sen: Democrat Rick Weiland paints Republican former Gov. Mike Rounds as corrupt, accusing him of selling permanent residency cards to the highest bidders. This EB-5 scandal has been lurking in the background for almost a year, but so far not enough details have come to light to do any real damage to Rounds.
• Senate: More independent expenditures from the DSCC and NRSC.
Gubernatorial:
• AR-Gov: The DGA front-group "Jobs and Opportunity" once again accuses Asa Hutchinson of cheating tax payers.
• CO-Gov: The RGA continues to portray Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper as a likable guy who's in way over his head as governor. On the Democratic side, a group called "Making Colorado Great" is spending six figures accusing Republican Bob Beauprez of making it easier for banks to hurt people.
• CT-Gov: Democratic Gov. Dan Malloy attacks Republican Tom Foley for wanting to roll back gun-control legislation.
• KS-Gov: Democrat Paul Davis uses a car driven by a professional driver as a metaphor for the direction Republican Gov. Sam Brownback wants to take the state. Hopefully, the campaign vetted Davis' co-star this time.
• NE-Gov: Both major party candidates are on the air here. Republican Pete Ricketts goes positive, talking up his business career at TD Ameritrade. Democrat Chuck Hassebrook accuses Ricketts of favoring the rich at the expense of the middle class.
• NM-Gov: Republican Gov. Susana Martinez breaks from her long string of ads bashing Democratic rival Gary King and goes positive. She touts her work on providing breakfast for school children while ensuring that adults don't abuse the welfare system.
• RI-Gov: Democratic Providence Mayor Angel Taveras touts his record, as the Sept. 9 primary approaches.
• WI-Gov: Republican Scott Walker once again touts jobs.
House:
• MA-06: VoteVets spends another $185,000 for Democrat Seth Moulton ahead of the Sept. 9 primary.
• MI-01: Democrat Jerry Cannon contrasts his military service with Congressional perks.
• MI-07: Democrat Pam Byrnes is out with her first two spots (here and here). Both hit Republican Rep. Tim Walburg for taking his paycheck during the government shutdown.
• NH-01: AmericanUnity PAC once again touts Republican Dan Innis, who faces former Rep. Frank Guinta in the Sept. 9 primary. Mayday PAC also spends $119,000 for Democratic Rep. Carol Shea-Porter.
• NH-02: Former state Sen. Gary Lambert does a compare-and-contrast spot against Republican primary rival Marilinda Garcia.
• NJ-03: Democrat Aimee Belgard decries how insurance companies are squeezing the middle class.
• DCCC: The DCCC is running ads hitting Republicans in CA-26, CA-31, and IL-12.
The CA-26 spot against Republican Jeff Gorrell is pretty typical, but the other two are interesting. CA-31 has long been viewed as a likely Democratic pickup, and it's interesting that the DCCC feels the need to run a spot against Republican Paul Chabot. They could just be trying to finish Chabot off early before moving on to bigger and better things, but it's worth keeping an eye out to see if anyone else gets involved in this 57 percent Obama seat.
In IL-12, we all knew that sooner or later footage of Republican Mike Bost's epic meltdown would make it on the air. The DCCC has evidently decided to go with sooner, running an entire spot behind it.
We also have the DCCC's independent expenditures for various races.
• NRCC: Several new ad buys from the NRCC.
• Chamber: The deep-pocketed U.S. Chamber of Commerce is running compare and contrast spots in favor of the Republicans in four House contests: CA-07, MI-01, MN-08, and WV-03. All but MI-01 are Democratic-held.