The 2004 Bush campaign hopped the DeLorean to 2011 and started running ads against a Republican... Obama is the number one target of GOP attack ads... Palin dead-enders seek reconsideration... Perry tiptoes along the super PAC line... And ads from the DNC, the NRCC, American Action Network, and more.
OBAMA CAMPAIGN TAKES A PAGE FROM BUSH -- Politician from Massachusetts who repeatedly changes position on key issues. Haven't we done this before? The Democratic National Committee (DNC) launched a four minute video rehashing Mitt Romney's many flip-flops on major issues like health care, abortion, climate change, and whether he likes Ronald Reagan. The four minutes video is part of a six state ad buy targeting the GOP frontrunner. HuffPost's Sam Stein writes, "Unwilling or perhaps uneager to let go of last week's scuffle over Mitt Romney's controversial distortion of an old Barack Obama quote, the Democratic National Committee announced on Monday a major ad campaign attacking the former Massachusetts governor's character. In a spot that will air on broadcast and cable television in six key battleground states, the committee plays to the typical anti-Romney script: that the candidate will contort himself in uncomfortable ways if it helps him become president." [HuffPost]
The Romney camp's response was to hold 12 conference calls with campaign surrogates and flood every reporter's inbox (in much the same way the Obama camp did last week after Romney aired his first ad of the cycle).
GOP TARGET NUMBER ONE: OBAMA -- The GOP primary has seen flashes of conflict on the debate stage and on the campaign trail, but the television ads mostly target one man: President Obama. It appears that the best way to prove your conservative bona fides is to show that you are willing and able to take the fight to the president. The New York Times reports, "In the past six months, conservative groups like those affiliated with Karl Rove and the billionaire industrialist Koch brothers, and, increasingly, Republican candidates themselves, have spent more than $13 million on advertisements carrying a negative message about Mr. Obama, according to an analysis by Kantar Media's Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks political advertising." [NYT]
A Washington, D.C. fundraiser for Mitt Romney has drawn attention from a couple of sources for controversies surrounding some attendees. Politico reported that one attendee, Patrick Cave, lobbied for the Arab Bank, which has been accused of aiding terrorists. ThinkProgress flagged the attendance of Sam Geduldig, a former Pawlenty bundler, whose lobbying firm recently received attention for offering to wage a smear campaign against Occupy Wall Street on behalf of the American Bankers Association for an $850,000 price tag. The ABA said that offer was unsolicited.
CAMPAIGN VIDEOS
Help us populate our list of campaign videos. Send any notable TV, radio or web ads that you see to Fundrace. We also have a thing for terrible historical campaign ads so please send along your favorites. Send your submissions to paulblumenthal@huffingtonpost.com.
Committee: Democratic National Committee
Candidate opposed: Mitt Romney
Spot: "MittvMitt.com: The story of two men trapped in one body" -- A long-form version of the classic windsurfing John Kerry ad from 2004, this DNC ad runs through the ever shifting positions of Mitt Romney on abortion, health care, climate change, and so on.
Link: Long version: [http://youtu.be/K9njHHyRI7g] Short version: [http://youtu.be/CUOM9QvhG5I]
Market: Albuquerque, N.M.; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Columbus, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Penn.; Milwaukee, Wisc.; and Washington, D.C.
Buy: $14,000
Committee: Steven Welch for Senate
Candidate opposed: Bob Casey
Spot: "Bob Casey & Barack Obama - Separated at Birth?" -- An "Unsolved Mysteries" parody "investigates" whether Sen. Casey and President Obama were separated at birth. For such a long ad (5-plus minutes) it carries the gag well.
Link: [http://youtu.be/eoF3-UemPWQ]
Market: YouTube
Buy: None. Just a web ad.
Committee: American Action Network
Candidate supported: Orrin Hatch
Spot: "Could It Happen" -- The conservative non-profit backs Hatch in this issue ad as someone whose opposition to spending is protecting the United States from becoming like Greece. The ad asks the question if the U.S. is close to a Greece-like collapse and answers, "We're closer than you think."
Link: [http://youtu.be/dPFjH2376kw]
Market: Fox News
Buy: Undisclosed
Committee: National Republican Congressional Committee
Candidate opposed: Ben Chandler
Spot: "Steady Hand - Ben Chandler" -- Chandler won reelection in 2010 by a shade over 600 votes. It's no surprise that the NRCC has been pounding him with web videos and television ads. This one hits Chandler for supporting Obama's jobs bill, which is deemed a second stimulus in the ad.
Link: [http://youtu.be/7TUbyviHbTw]
Market: Lexington, Ky. (cable)
Buy: $10,000
Committee: Ilario Pantano for Congress
Candidate opposed: David Rouzer
Spot: "Unacceptable" -- Ilario Pantano and David Rouzer are running for the GOP nomination in North Carolina's 7th district. In this spot, Pantano paints Rouzer as a lobbyist who supported "amnesty for illegal aliens."
Link: [http://youtu.be/a_PaF8jxGXI]
Market: Wilmington, N.C.
Buy: Undisclosed
Sarah Palin dead-enders have raised enough money to run an ad in Sioux City, Iowa calling on the half-term governor and former vice presidential candidate to "reconsider" her decision to not run for president. The ad is expected to be up this week. The organizers at Conservatives4Palin write, "You'll be able to see the ad that will be shown on televisions on KCAU-TV across the Sioux City, Iowa market on this blog and on youtube when it goes up next week. If you have any ideas on how to get this story more attention, let us know and feel free to push it yourself to people who may be interested."
PERRY CAMPAIGN USES SUPER PAC FOOTAGE -- In a recent ad thanking troops for their service on Thanksgiving the Rick Perry for President campaign used footage shot by the pro-Perry super PAC Make Us Great Again. This could potentially violate the coordination ban meant to block certain interactions between super PACs and campaigns. Politico's Ben Smith reported, "Rick Perry's campaign for president appears to be testing the limits of that regulation: In its Thanksgiving video, the campaign uses two clips from an slickly produced advertisement aired on Perry's behalf by Make Us Great Again, a SuperPAC run by a longtime Perry associate, Mike Toomey. ... Perry spokesman Mark Miner told me there was 'no coordination with SuperPac here.' ... 'Two of the shots were taken from public domain,' he said in an email. Television ads, though widely available, are not typically considered public domain." Technically, if the super PAC declared their footage to be public domain the campaign could use the footage without worrying about violating the coordination ban. Of course, that means that anyone could use the super PAC footage for whatever they wanted to. [Politico]
TRACKING OUTSIDE SPENDING:
Jon Huntsman (R), $1,455,473 to support, $0 to oppose.
Rick Perry (R), $895,230 to support, $0 to oppose.
Herman Cain (R), $462,217 to support, $0 to oppose.
Barack Obama (D), $0 to support, $357,929 to oppose. (+$1,501)
Mitt Romney (R), $0 to support, $306,229 to oppose.
Gary Johnson (R), $518 to support, $0 to oppose.
RECENT POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE REGISTRATIONS
Tea Party Fund, Reno, Nev., Treasurer: Richard Alan Disney (Super PAC).
Patriots of the Union, Chicago, Ill., Treasurer: Yvette Soto.
Tar Heel PAC, Lumberton, N.C., Treasurer: Marion Thompson (Leadership PAC: Rep. Mike McIntyre).
RECENT INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURES
NONE
Send tips, hints, submissions, rumors to HuffPost Fundrace at paulblumenthal@huffingtonpost.com.