Leading Off:
• LA-Sen: Republican Bill Cassidy's new spot is backed up by a $400,000 buy. The ad starts out fine, with three women saying they voted for Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu in the past but are pissed at her over Obamacare.
The ad gets a little tone deaf when one of the women, identified as "Ginger," declares that Landrieu is "just trying to scare us with nonsense about Social Security, Medicare, and veterans." I know she's calling Landrieu's attacks nonsense, not the issues themselves, but this still feels weird, especially since there's no attempt to defend Cassidy here. And for some reason Cassidy comes off as more than a little creepy at the end of this ad. It's hard to say what's up: He doesn't usually seem as unnerving in his ads as he does this time. The whole ad just has a strange vibe to it.
For her part, Landrieu goes positive on military issues, featuring a veteran praising her work saving local bases and working hard for soldiers.
Jump below the fold for more.
Senate:
• AK-Sen: Democratic Sen. Mark Begich continues to link himself to Republican colleague Lisa Murkowski. In the past, Murkowski has not been happy to be mentioned in Begich ads.
• AR-Sen: Republican Tom Cotton continues to demonize Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor over Obamacare, featuring a woman describing how the program is destroying her business.
• CO-Sen: Senate Majority PAC spends another $138,000 against Republican Cory Gardner.
• GA-Sen: Republican David Perdue portrays himself as fiscally responsible, calling for cutting government spending. On the Democratic side, Georgians Together spends $410,000: The group recently ran this spot against Perdue.
• KY-Sen: Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell goes positive. His spot features a constituent praising him for getting her daughter back after she was kidnapped by her father and taken to Mali.
• MI-Sen: AFSCME ties Republican Terri Lynn Land to billionaires, arguing her policies hurt working families. Also on the Democratic side, the local branch of the League of Conservation Voters spends $245,000.
• MN-Sen: Republican Mike McFadden continues to portray Democratic Sen. Al Franken as a blind Obama loyalist, accusing him of voting with the president 97 percent of the time. The narrator pledges that if McFadden votes with any party or president 97 percent of the time, he'll resign.
• NC-Sen: Republican Thom Tillis blames Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan for doing nothing to stop the rise of ISIS, accusing her of skipping Armed Services Committee meetings at a critical time. Also on the GOP side, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce features legendary NASCAR driver Richard Petty praising Tillis. As Daily Kos Elections community member JacobNC reminds us, Petty actually ran for office himself in 1996. He lost his race for North Carolina secretary of state to Democrat Elaine Marshall 53-45.
On the Democratic side, Senate Majority PAC has two new spots against Tillis (here and here). The first goes after Tillis on equal pay for women, while the second hits him on education.
• NH-Sen Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen talks about her how she puts New Hampshire first. The ad is positive, though it's no coincidence that "Put New Hampshire First" is Republican opponent Scott Brown's slogan. NextGen Climate also spends $600,000 against Brown.
Gubernatorial:
• AR-Gov: Asa Hutchinson calls for a lot of positive stuff.
• CT-Gov: Democratic Gov. Dan Malloy continues to portray Republican Tom Foley as a heartless rich guy. Foley's own spot accuses Malloy of having no plan to fix the economy beyond raising taxes.
• FL-Gov: The NRA adapts a spot they've been running in several different contests to go after Democrat Charlie Crist. The Florida GOP also goes after Crist, using his own words to portray him as a flip-flopper.
• HI-Gov: Republican Duke Aiona calls for a living wage.
• IL-Gov: Several new ads for Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn (here, here, and here). The first portrays Republican Bruce Rauner as corrupt, accusing him of bribing a board member who voted his way on a deal (the word bribe isn't used but the ad's not subtle). The second talks about Quinn's work saving a tornado-ravaged town. The third goes back to hitting Rauner's business record.
• KS-Gov: The NRA is chipping in $146,000 to help Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.
• ME-Gov: The DGA-backed Maine Forward portrays Republican Gov. Paul LePage as an ultra conservative who's presiding over a failing economy.
• RI-Gov: Democrat Gina Raimondo goes positive on jobs. The ad features Democratic Sen. Jack Reed, who will be on ballot with Raimondo and is seen as safe. Republican Allan Fung goes after Gina Raimondo on 38 Studios, a video game company that took loans from the state before it went out of business.
• WI-Gov: Republican Gov. Scott Walker continues to portray Democrat Mary Burke as someone who tried to tax everything in Wisconsin.
House:
• AR-02: Democrat Patrick Henry Hays goes negative, portraying Republican French Hill as a corrupt banker.
• AZ-02: Democratic Rep. Ron Barber hits Republican Martha McSally on college tuition and student loans.
• CA-17: Democratic Rep. Mike Honda goes positive in his first spot. The congressman faces fellow Democrat Ro Khanna in the general election.
• CA-21: Republican Rep. David Valadao.
• CO-06: The DCCC hits Republican Rep. Mike Coffman on women's reproductive rights.
• FL-02: Two new spots from Republican Rep. Steve Southerland (here and here). The first features a female veteran criticizing Democrat Gwen Graham for being part of a war on women. The second is similar, featuring a male veteran describing how Southerland helped him and also criticizing Graham's attacks as "shameful."
• GA-12: Democratic Rep. John Barrow decries how much Congress sucks, and emphasizes how he turned down congressional perks. There are a billion ads by incumbent members of Congress like this, but Barrow's spot still favorably stands out. Barrow's definitely one of the more charismatic candidates out there and he's able to do a good job selling the idea that he's different from the rest of the House.
• IL-12: The NRCC portrays Democratic Rep. Bill Enyart as someone who votes against the middle class.
• LA-05: The Club for Growth goes after Republican Rep. Vance McAllister, attacking him both over his personal problems (the congressman was caught on camera kissing a woman who wasn't his wife) and for supporting Obamacare. McAllister is facing a jungle primary with several other Republicans in November and while the Club is backing businessman Zach Dasher, they don't mention him in the ad at all.
• LA-06: Lenar Whitney, one of the many Republicans facing off in the jungle primary, describes herself as a "conservative mom."
• MN-08: Democratic Rep. Rick Nolan features a local veteran describing how the congressman helped him. The DCCC goes negative against Republican Stewart Mills, continuing to portray him as an out-of-touch rich guy who doesn't care about the middle class.
• ND-AL: Democrat George Sinner.
• NH-01: Democratic Rep. Carol Shea-Porter hits former Republican Rep. Frank Guinta for doing nothing to stop the NSA from spying on Americans. Guinta's spot features his wife and mother praising him.
• NH-02: Democratic Rep. Annie Kuster goes after Republican Marilinda Garcia on women's health.
• NY-18: Democratic Rep. Sean Maloney.
• NY-24: Two new spots from the NRCC (here and here). The first accuses Democratic Rep. Dan Maffei of not doing enough to protect his constituents from crime and terrorism. The second praises Republican John Katko's record as a crime fighter.
• WI-06: Republican Glenn Grothman.
• Chamber: Various pro-GOP expenditures from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
• House Majority PAC: New pro-Democratic ads in AZ-02, IL-12, MN-08, and NY-01. Via a press release, the size of the buys range from $89,000 to $278,000.
• National Association of Realtors: Various expenditures for candidates from both parties.
• NRCC: Various pro-GOP expenditures.