Mitch McConnell revs ad machine
Don’t believe for a bluegrass minute that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is taking his challenge from Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes lightly.
During the week following Labor Day, McConnell’s campaign aired, on average, one TV ad every five minutes — about 2,200 ads in all, according to a Center for Public Integrity review of data provided by Kantar Media/CMAG, an advertising tracking service.
That’s roughly twice as many ads as Grimes’ campaign aired during the same period and more than any U.S. Senate candidate nationwide.
But for Republicans, Kentucky’s big-money Senate contest is an anomaly during a week that saw Democrats and their allies produce more TV spots in most battleground states.
Related: Last week's TV ads in the 2014 battle for the Senate
It’s the latest indication that Democrats, who have long feared being outgunned this cycle, are willing to spend whatever’s necessary to prevent the GOP from seizing the six Senate seats it needs in November to win a Senate majority.
During the week following Labor Day, Democrats and their allies aired significantly more TV ads in Alaska, Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina, according to estimates from Kantar Media/CMAG.
In Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa and Louisiana, Democrats and their allies also edged out their rivals by narrower margins, airing less than 10 percent more TV ads than conservatives in each state during the week following Labor Day.
Much of this air cover came from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Senate Majority PAC and Vote Vets Action Fund.
Related: Total TV ads in the 2014 battle for the Senate through Sept. 8
These three groups that exemplify the range of political players behind the advertising barrages in battleground states this year.
The DSCC is an official arm of the Democratic Party. It discloses its funders and can only accept contributions no larger than $32,400 per donor per year.
Senate Majority PAC and Vote Vets Action Fund, however, don’t have a limit on the size of donations they may receive. As a super PAC, Senate Majority PAC discloses its donors’ name, while Vote Vets Action Fund, as a “social welfare” nonprofit organized under Sec. 501(c)(4) of the U.S. tax code, does not. Both types of groups have flourished in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling that loosened campaign spending rules for companies.
Generally, candidates themselves may only accept $2,600 per donor per election, with a primary and general election counting as separate elections.
Related: Who's buying the Senate?
There’s more to this story. Click here to read the rest at the Center for Public Integrity.
This story is part of Buying the Senate 2014. Whether Republicans control both chambers of Congress squarely depends on Senate races in a handful of states. Click here to read more stories in this investigation.
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Copyright 2014 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.
