After the longest and one of the more negative midterm campaigns on record, strategists are trying to leave voters with a slightly less terrible taste in their mouths.
A number of candidates released ads this week highlighting their softer sides, delivering closing messages filled with hope, promises and, in more than a few cases, puppies.
{mosads}That doesn’t mean everything’s sunny on the air — campaign committees and outside groups continue to pound negative messages heading into Election Day.
But the candidates themselves are looking to find a way to cut through the noise after months of negative ads — and a spot with the family dog, like Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) is running, or with a crowd of bloodhounds, like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has up — could help close the deal with voters who’ve been putting their TVs on mute during commercial breaks.
SENATE SHOWDOWN
LA-SEN (LANDRIEU): Senate Conservatives Fund President Ken Cuccinelli said in an interview with The Hill that Republican Rob Maness is the better choice to defeat Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) than fellow Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-La.).
N.C.-SEN (HAGAN): Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) blasted Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) on the North Carolina campaign trail, saying she skipped meetings of the Senate Armed Services Committee while Islamic militants executed two U.S. citizens.
IA-SEN (OPEN): Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday endorsed Iowa Senate candidate Joni Ernst, arguing the upper chamber could use someone with the Republican’s Army National Guard experience.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stumped with Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) on Wednesday, and called Ernst’s refusal to meet with editorial boards of state papers “disqualifying.”
KY-SEN (MCCONNELL): Alison Lundergan Grimes released a new Web video in which University of Kentucky championship-winning coach Joe B. Hall endorses her. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) campaign pointed to the fact that the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers bussed in supporters from out of state for a campaign event with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) as evidence she’s “in bad shape” heading into Election Day.
GA-SEN (OPEN): Former Dollar General CEO David Perdue’s business record was supposed to be his ticket to the Senate. Now it’s becoming the Republican’s undoing.
N.H.-SEN (OPEN): New Hampshire Republican Senate candidate Scott Brown is getting help from Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in the final week of his challenge to Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.).
AK-SEN (BEGICH): Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and former Alaska Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Dan Sullivan (R) traded jabs in a Tuesday forum over President Obama and energy. They’ll meet again tonight. Former White House nominee Mitt Romney (R) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) will stump with Sullivan between now and Election Day.
BATTLE FOR THE HOUSE
NRCC: House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has given the National Republican Congressional Committee $500,000 in the closing days of the midterms.
LA-5 (MCALLISTER): Louisiana Republican congressional candidate Zach Dasher has picked up another big-name endorsement this week, the latest support coming from firebrand Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
TX-23 (GALLEGO): Democratic freshman Rep. Pete Gallego and GOP challenger Will Hurd will be the only two Texans sweating their state’s congressional elections next week.
LA-6 (OPEN): Former Rep. Edwin Edwards (R-La.) has a strong chance to reach the runoff in the race to replace Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who is running for Senate.
FL-2 (SOUTHERLAND): Former Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) will campaign with Rep. Steve Southerland (R-Fla.) as he seeks to stave off a challenge from Democrat Gwen Graham.
CO-6 (COFFMAN): The Tea Party Express endorsed Rep. Mike Coffman (R) for reelection.
NV-4 (HORSFORD)/CA-24 (CAPPS): The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is planning to spend $360,000 on TV ads defending Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) in his Democratic-leaning suburban Las Vegas district, a response to a recent big ad buy from the GOP-aligned Crossroads GPS. The ads are the first for Horsford from the DCCC, which also launched its first ads protecting Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.).
MN-8 (NOLAN): National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) will stump with businessman Stewart Mills (R) on Friday. Mills is challenging Rep. Rick Nolan (R-Minn.).
AD WATCH
NH-SEN (SHAHEEN): Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) launched a Web video featuring two New Hampshire residents slamming Republican Scott Brown for sitting on the board of a company that outsourced jobs and chiding him for leaving New Hampshire workers behind.
IA-SEN (OPEN): Iowa state Sen. Joni Ernst’s (R) final ad paints the U.S. as being at a “crossroads” and says Americans need to “take a new way, the Iowa way.”
OR-SEN (MERKLEY): American Future Fund released an ad that suggests Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) hasn’t accomplished much during his time in office.
SD-SEN (OPEN): A Republican rancher says Republican Mike Rounds “has consistently prioritized the interests of big money over we the people of South Dakota” and that he can’t vote for Rounds in MAYDAY PAC’s latest ad.
KS-SEN (ROBERTS): Independent Greg Orman touts his newspaper endorsements and his independence in a new ad. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) characterizes Orman as dishonest on his policy positions and his business background and calls him a “risky choice” and “downright embarrassing” in one radio ad, and hits him on abortion in another.
MI-SEN (OPEN): Rep. Gary Peters’s (D-Mich.) final ad celebrates “heroic” middle-class women.
AR-SEN (PRYOR): Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) decries negative attack ads against him and features his wife and her dog in his final ad.
NY-18 (MALONEY): Former Rep. Nan Hayworth (R-N.Y.) who is looking to unseat a gay member of Congress, is touting the support of her gay son in a new ad.
NY-1 (BISHOP): Businessman Donald Trump recorded a robo-call for Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), who is running against Democrat Rep. Tim Bishop.
IA-3 (OPEN): Barbara Grassley, wife of Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), records a radio spot for David Young (R-Iowa) in his House run.
DCCC: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee aired two new ads to protect Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) and help state Sen. Brad Ashford (D-Neb.) against Rep. Lee Terry (R).
OUTSIDE GROUPS:
NARAL Pro-Choice America and its Colorado arm are launching radio, television and digital ads telling viewers that “if Cory Gardner gets his way, you better stock up on condoms.”
The Chamber of Commerce released its final bevy of ads of the cycle.
Two spots feature Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) touting Iowa state Sen. Joni Ernst (R) and former Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) in New Hampshire, while another features former White House nominee Mitt Romney (R) touting North Carolina Speaker Thom Tillis (R). Others advocate for Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and Reps. John Barrow (D-Ga.) and Scott Peters (D-Calif.), and attack Rep. Joe Garcia (D-Fla.).
POLL POSITION
IA-SEN (OPEN): Iowa state Sen. Joni Ernst (R) leads Rep. Bruce Braley (D) by a margin of 49 percent to 45 percent in a Quinnipiac University poll, slightly outside the survey’s margin of error, plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
Braley has a narrow 46 percent to 45 percent lead in a new internal poll conducted for his campaign by Garin-Hart-Yang.
CO-SEN (UDALL): Colorado pollster Kevin Ingham conducted a survey that over-sampled Hispanic voters and polled them in both English and Spanish, and then weighted them equally to other demographic groups. It found Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) running neck-and-neck with Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), 45 percent to 44 percent.
AK-SEN (BEGICH): Former Alaska Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Dan Sullivan (R) leads Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) 42 percent to 38 percent in an internal poll conducted for his campaign and shared with The Hill.
GA-SEN (OPEN): A new Monmouth University poll finds businessman David Perdue (R) leading former charity executive Michelle Nunn (D) 49 percent to 41 percent. Most other recent polling has found a margin-of-error race.
KS-SEN (ROBERTS): A new SurveyUSA poll gives Independent Greg Orman a slight lead over incumbent Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) by a margin of 44 percent to 42 percent.
NC-SEN (HAGAN): Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) and North Carolina Speaker Thom Tillis (R) are deadlocked at 44 percent apiece, according to an internal poll from Tillis’s campaign.
MI-6 (UPTON): Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) leads Democrat Paul Clements 47 percent to 43 percent in a poll conducted for Clements’s campaign.
2016 RUMBLINGS
BUSH: Former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-Fla.) candidly spoke about his potential presidential bid Wednesday during a trip to Nashville, saying that he’s “not really freaking out about this decision.”
Bush said Obama had been “incompetent” with his handling of Ebola.
PAUL: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) confirmed to The Washington Post that he’ll meet with advisers after the midterms, but said that it’s not a kick-off to a presidential campaign.
PERRY: Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) made much fanfare of his gracious welcome for a nurse returning to Texas from treating Ebola patients in West Africa, as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) continues to take flak for his quarantine of another returning nurse in New Jersey.
WALKER: Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) applauded Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) economic record while stumping for Walker on Wednesday.
Walker has a 7-point lead over Democrat Mary Burke in a new poll.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Vote Lee Terry guys, greatest Republican ever.”
—Nikko Jenkins, a convicted murderer whose crimes have been evoked by the National Republican Congressional Committee to protect Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.)