The American Action Network, a conservative political group founded this year to pour millions into competitive elections, is for the first time going after incumbent Sen. Russ Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat in an increasingly tight fight for reelection.
AAN released a 30-second ad on Tuesday that they’ll spend $380,000 to put on the air in Wisconsin, the group said. It’s the first time an outside conservative group has spent real money to help likely Republican challenger Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin businessman, try to unseat Feingold.
The group on Tuesday also released its second ad attacking Rep. Paul Hodes, the Democratic congressman from New Hampshire who is running against Republican Kelly Ayotte, the state’s former attorney general and likely GOP nominee to replace retiring Sen. Judd Gregg, a Republican.
The AAN ads criticize Democrats Feingold and Hodes for their votes on big spending bills, particularly the $862 billion stimulus that was intended to save American jobs. The ad focused on Hodes knocks him for his vote in support of President Obama’s health-care bill. AAN does not mention the health-care bill in the Feingold ad.
“Senator Feingold and Congressman Paul Hodes went to Congress saying they were going to be fiscally responsible but they failed to keep those promises,” said AAN Chief Executive Norm Coleman, a former Republican senator from Minnesota.
Polls on the Wisconsin race have shown Feingold only a point or two ahead of Johnson for the last few months, though three recent Rasmussen Reports surveys have shown Johnson up by a point or two. In New Hampshire, most polls have given Ayotte a double-digit lead over Hodes.
Here are the two ads:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52p-PrI5a7U&feature=player_embedded http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z4Kdf49C6U&feature=player_embedded