Tuesday, October 19, 2010

FOLLOWING MONEY IN ARIZONA'S POLITICS: Dems Engage In Grijalva/McClung Race; Big Direct Mail Piece For Mitchell

As we get closer to November, the independent expenditures on behalf of or against Congressional candidates will continue to increase. Arizona's Politics will check in regularly on the reports that these groups must submit to the Federal Election Commission.


Our previous reports on Independent Expenditures in Arizona's Congressional campaigns were posted October 16, October 15 x3, October 13, October 12, October 7, October 4, September 30, and September 28.  In addition, on Saturday, we provided a "tote board" of the busy Friday


Last Friday, we saw the Republicans - through what we are calling Republican-philic groups - expand the congressional playing field into the heavily-Democratic CD7.  The "Americans for Tax Reform" ("ATR")spent $230,000 on the television ad focusing on Rep. Raul Grijalva's call to boycott Arizona over SB1070 and his vote to recess Congress last month.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ("DCCC") responded the next day with a $62,732.50 commercial expenditure against McClung.  Today, the Democrat-philic group "America's Families First Action Fund" (can we get a duck to quack "AFFAF"?) one-upped ATR with a $250,595.40 ad buy against GOP challenger Ruth McClung.

The Republicans mailed a bit more money to southern Arizona, too.  "Americans for Limited Government" dropped $22,499.22 to design/produce/print/mail a piece to oppose Grijalva.

AFFAF also spent in the six figures in the CD5 race, spending $101,246.00 on a direct mail piece opposing GOP challenger David Schweikert, against Rep. Harry Mitchell.

Another Republican-philic group has gone to the air on the hotly-contested CD1 race.  The "Trust In Small Business PAC" spent $2,489.00 producing a radio spot supporting challenger Paul Gosar against Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, and $13,435.00 on radio airtime.

In smaller expenditure news, the "Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund" spent $207.63 on salary to support Grijalva, and NARAL Pro-Choice America spent a total of $63.00 renting lists favoring the Democrats (Jon Hulburd, Mitchell, Gabrielle Giffords) and opposing the Republicans (Ben Quayle, Schweikert, Jesse Kelly) in CD's 3, 5, and 8. 

Arizona's Politics will attempt to post ads - that are airing - from all races.  If you find one (that is not already up here), please send us the link.  (Same deal for radio, mailers, etc.)



We welcome your comments about this post. Or, if you have something unrelated on your mind, please e-mail to info-at-arizonaspolitics-dot-com. Thanks.

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