IA-Sen: Politico reports that EMILY’s List, which is supporting businesswoman Theresa Greenfield in next week’s Democratic primary, is spending almost $1 million on an ad campaign against retired Navy Vice Adm. Michael Franken. The commercial argues that Franken “is a former Republican funded by Republicans” who only recently moved to Iowa. The narrator continues, “Until last year, millionaire Franken was a connected Washington D.C. defense contractor who still owns a nice house outside Washington.”
It’s a bit surprising that EMILY is spending so much against Franken when Greenfield looks like the heavy favorite to win the nomination to take on GOP Sen. Joni Ernst. The one poll we’ve seen, an early May Public Policy Polling survey for a group supporting universal basic income, showed Greenfield leading Franken by a wide 43-12 margin; two other candidates, attorney Kimberly Graham and businessman Eddie Mauro, were far behind with 4% each. Greenfield has also benefited from $6 million in spending from Senate Majority PAC, while none of the other candidates have received much outside help.
Mauro has been running ads against Greenfield in recent weeks, and it’s possible that EMILY feels it needs to weaken Franken to avoid an upset. However, in his deep look at this primary, Politico’s James Arkin doesn’t suggest that any of Greenfield’s allies are worried she’ll actually lose.
Instead, Arkin writes that national Democrats want Greenfield to secure a dominant win next week in order to improve her image and give her “a wave of momentum” heading into what will be a difficult general election. Arkin also notes that the NRSC will begin airing ads here a week after the primary, so it makes sense for pro-Greenfield groups to do whatever they can to strengthen her ahead of time.
For her part, Greenfield is using her latest commercial to go after Ernst and her (in)famous 2014 “Make ‘Em Squeal” ad rather than her intra-party rivals. The commercial, which utilizes footage from Greenfield’s launch video, features the Democrat standing in front of a hog pen declaring, “Joni Ernst said she’d be different.” The ad then plays a short clip of Ernst from six years ago saying, “Washington is full of big spenders. Let’s make ‘em squeal,” a statement that attracts a horrified sound from a hog off-camera.
Greenfield responds, “Well, she didn’t castrate anyone. She cast her vote to let the corporate lobbyists keep feasting like hogs at the trough.” Greenfield continues, “You want to really make ‘em squeal? Ban corporate PAC money. Take away their loopholes and special tax breaks. Give the breaks to working folks instead.”