Sen. Rand Paul’s PAC is launching a push in Missouri against Sen. Claire McCaskill’s bid for re-election, slamming the incumbent Democrat for supporting foreign aid.
A one-minute ad from RANDPAC juxtaposes McCaskill’s votes for foreign aid with some of the upheaval in the countries to which that aid was sent, including the murder of the U.S. ambassador to Libya last month.
The spot will begin running Wednesday, according to the campaign of Rep. Todd Akin, McCaskill’s Republican opponent, and there is a six-figure buy supporting it.
Akin himself is not mentioned in the ad; rather, it focuses on attacking McCaskill, a tactic that some Republicans have employed in the wake of the fallout stemming from Akin’s controversial comment that victims of “legitimate rape” do not get pregnant.
Paul joins his colleague Sen. Jim DeMint, whose Senate Conservatives Fund PAC is also supporting Akin.
Paul’s chief of staff told Business Insider that he felt Akin had apologized for the comment and it was time to move on.
“He accepts that Congressman Akin apologized for what he said and made a mistake. One or two mistaken sentences or thoughts doesn’t change the fact that there are dozens of issues on which Claire McCaskill is truly bad on and on which Todd Akin would be a significant improvement,” said Doug Stafford.
The McCaskill campaign shot back at the ad,* attacking Akin’s position on foreign aid, and noting that there was bipartisan criticism of Paul’s amendment to cut foreign aid, with Republicans such as Sens. John McCain and Roy Blunt voting not to cut aid.
“Todd Akin’s position on this issue is so extreme, he would be one of only 10 Senators to cut this foreign aid funding,” said spokesman Erik Dorey. “Sen. Roy Blunt, as well as every member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, including Sen. John McCain, voted against this bill because these overly-simplistic solutions in a dangerous, complex world put our allies and American interests at risk. Claire’s led the fight to bring our tax dollars home from wasteful infrastructure projects in Afghanistan, and she is confident that those who attacked our embassies and our citizens will be brought to justice–an approach that Osama bin Laden came to understand intimately when U.S. Navy Seals showed up on his doorstep.”
Paul has not formally endorsed the congressman.
*This post has been updated with a response from the McCaskill campaign.
