Buying A Voice: Majority PAC attacks Allen

Virginia senate candidate Tim Kaine (D) has taken quite a bit of heat from third party political groups looking to damage his campaign, but now the former governor has some help.

At one point Kaine made an effort to team up with this rival George Allen (R) to ask SuperPACs to stay out of the race for senate in Virginia.  Allen declined the offer, so Kaine, did not stand in the way of a SuperPAC going to work on his behalf in Virginia, and their first ad, hits Allen hard.

So who is the “Majority PAC”?

There are working to hold on to the slim democratic majority in the senate. They aren’t shy about those intentions, boasting of their work in important battlegrounds across the country on their web site.

Virginia has been increasingly important, and they’ve invested quite a bit already to help Tim Kaine. They’ve spent more than $200 thousand already.

Many of the Majority PAC’s donors are available online on the FEC website. Of those listed none are from Virginia in this current election in cycle.

In 2010, two Virginia donors gave hefty sums to help the democratic cause. The Richmond law firm of Allen & Allen gave $10 thousand dollars and the law firm Rutter Mills in Norfolk gave $1 thousand.

But that is only what is listed. Majority PAC is affiliated with Patriot Majority PAC, a 501 c-4 that is not required to reveal its donor list.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, In 2012 Patriot Majority PAC spent more than $3 million. So far in 2012 they have invested only around $49 thousand.

And despite their connections Patriot Majority PAC is not directly responsible for this particular ad.

At this point the big money is being spent by Majority PAC. Center for Responsive Politics records show that in 2012 their spending already tops more than $3 and half million dollars, and they still have close to $3 million left.

See the full report below:

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Here is where we got our information:

*The Majority PAC’s website and release about the ad in Virginia.

*The Federal Elections Commission report on the candidates the Majority PAC supports

*The Federal Elections Commission report on contributions to the Majority PAC

*The website for Patroit Majority PAC USA

*The Center for Responsive Politics report on Patriot Majority PAC USA

*The Center for Responsive Politics report on Majority PAC

Here is a look at the ad:

Obama campaign unveils ad hitting Romney on taxes ahead of Virginia trip

The Obama campaign is set to drop an ad in Virginia that contrasts the newly proposed tax plan by the White House against Mitt Romney‘s proposed plan.  The new ad is said to be a preview of the theme of the upcoming visit by the campaign to Virginia this weekend.

The ad will air in nine battleground states including Virginia.

It will be filling up your TV screen soon.. but here is a sneak peak right now:

OFA has also launched a companion web site to provide a degree of context.

“Mitt Romney wants to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy,” reads the web site.  ”And add his own tax breaks for millionaires on top of it—without saying how he’d pay for it.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus called the ad a typical Obama campaign tactic driven by their class warfare argument.  “Obama is in love with this rich vs. poor game that he loves to play,” Priebus told me. “Barack Obama is a smart guy. Even he knows that his retoric is a sham.”

Priebus said that Obama doesn’t even have the support of senate candidate Tim Kaine on extending the Bush tax cuts to people making $250 thousand and less and then allowing them to sunset on high earners. He said a plan like that would hammer “800 thousand” small business owners.

An extended clip from Priebus can be found below:

Kaine outpaces Allen in 2nd quarter fundraising

Former Governor Tim Kaine (D) is touting an impressive fundraising haul for the second quarter of 2012 in his race for the U.S. Senate. The democrat pulled in his best quarter so far raising $3 million dollars since April 1st. His campaign has $2.7 million cash hand.

“Thousands of new donors have gotten involved this quarter because they are tired of the partisan gridlock in Washington,” said Communications Director Brandi Hoffine.

It was also the best quarter of the campaign for former Senator George Allen (R), but Allen fell far short of Kaine’s mark bringing in $2 million. Allen heads into the fall with $3.34 million cash on hand.

“Our positive message for freedom and opportunity is resonating throughout Virginia,” Allen said of his fundraising report.

But these numbers only tell a small part of the fundraising story.

Allen appears to have significantly more money available heading into the final stretch of the campaign, but Kaine has already reserved and spent $3.5 million in television advertising time for the fall.

That is in addition to the $2.7 million they have in the bank and whatever else they raise from here on out.

Allen has also reserved a similar TV buy, $3.4 million, but that money they haven’t paid for it yet. That means it must come out of his existing cash on hand budget or whatever they raise in the future. Allen has already purchased a significant TV ad buy, that is currently running across the Commonwealth.

So there are two ways to look at this report based on the all important TV spending in the fall. Either Kaine has $6.2 million left to spend compared to Allen’s $3.34 million excluding TV ad buys, or if you include them, Kaine has $2.7 million left to spend and Allen is actually running a deficit.

But don’t cry for Team Allen quite yet. The campaign spending on TV ad buys is only one component of a broad based TV ad blitz that has and will continue to fill up your commercial space. Third party groups from outside of Virginia will be spending of millions of dollars that will not be directly connected to either campaign.

Allen has already benefited from ads paid for by groups like American Crossroads and The U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Several of these groups have pledged to be even more involved this fall. While Kaine has SuperPAC help as well, Allen has more allies who got involved much earlier and are heavily financed for the titanic struggle ahead.

How does this impact you? Well it means you can expect virtually every commercial to be filled with shadowy ominous ads from now until election day. So if you are sick of it already, you may want to consider heavily utilizing your DVR.