Akin, Spence go after opponents; Koster releases first ad
Every week Project Open Vault receives new political ad buy contracts from three mid-Missouri TV stations, updating our ad spending database as soon as possible. Below is a brief look at the ad buys collected for the week of Sept. 18:
Two Republican candidates are taking shots at their Democratic opponents in the most recent round of political ads running in Missouri.
Gubernatorial candidate Dave Spence released an ad earlier this week against incumbent Gov. Jay Nixon. The ad links Nixon with President Barack Obama in an attempt to feed off of the president’s unpopularity in Missouri. Spence’s ad also blames Nixon and Obama for the “failed” state of Missouri’s economy and the loss of jobs in the state.
Over the past week, Spence has bought more than $66,000 worth of mid-Missouri ad time to run the above and other ads over the next few weeks.
Spence’s ad elictied a response from Nixon Thursday, who released his first negative ad of his campaign. The ad critcizes Spence for his connection to a bank that has refused to repay federal bailout money. In the ad, a narrator takes note of Spence’s position on the board of directors of Relaince Bancshares Inc., which accepted $40 million of federal bailout funds and voted against repaying the money in 2011.
Thursday’s ad marks a move away from a string of positive ads, including one released late last week, which mirrors his prior ads and touts the governor’s work over the past four years. Nixon bought $11,600 worth of ads to run last week, according to political ad contracts from the three mid-Missouri stations.
U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin released an ad targeting incumbent Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill. The ad questions whether the people of Missouri can trust McCaskill because of her record and support of the president.
Akin bought $16,395 worth of ads, which have run over the past week.
Incumbent Demcratic Attorney General Chris Koster released his first ad this week. The ad shows Koster speaking directly into the camera about what it takes to work as Missouri’s attorney general and promotes Koster’s record. The ad takes aim at his the lack of a record of his opponent, Republican Ed Martin, but Koster never mentions Martin by name.
Koster bought $27,440 worth of air time to run the ad on mid-Missouri stations during the current week.
Other mid-Missouri ad buys:
McCaskill has bought $50,495 worth of air time over the past week for her ad entitled “Fifty”, but she has yet to run an ad against Akin since his controversial remarks on rape and abortion.
The Republican candidate for the 44th state House district, Caleb Rowden, has an additional $13,960 worth of ads to supplement his buys from last week. Rowden is running against Democratic candidate Ken Jacob, who has previously served in the state legislature.
