Outside liberal groups are running more effective ads in key Senate races by sticking to the script, while conservative groups focus too much on their own agendas, Republican strategists say.
While many conservative groups focus on their traditional messages, left-leaning super PACs and nonprofits are working together and tailoring their ads to the themes Democrats are campaigning on, allowing them to reinforce the candidates’ messages — and the party’s overall arguments about the election.
“When it comes to aligning their message and coordinating activities, the left gets it better than anyone,” a senior GOP strategist confided to the Washington Examiner. “Labor groups will run ads about contraception if that will help them win. It’s not just how much you spend but how you spend it. Our groups rarely get outside their comfort zone.”
Republican political nonprofits, such as 501c(4) organizations, which don’t have to disclose the names of their donors, are doing better than their Democratic counterparts so far this election cycle. But Democratic super PACs — more effective because they face no restrictions on political activity — have raised significantly more money over the past two years than have Republican super PACs.
Four years ago, when Republicans won a record majority of House seats and captured seven Senate seats, GOP outside groups broadly outspent Democratic-friendly organizations $184.6 million to $104.2 million.
That spurred Democrats to rethink how super PACs and other third party groups fit into their electoral strategy. It also adjusted how Democratic-aligned organizations advertised, and that change is evident in this year’s Senate races.
In the 2014 campaign, progressive groups have exhibited remarkable flexibility in their willingness to run ads that have nothing to do with the issues they champion. Rather, many of their spots fit into the Democratic Party’s broad messaging narrative, which this cycle includes attacking Republicans for embracing the Koch brothers and policies harmful to women. And, they’re willing to do the important dirty work of running negative ads.
“Necessity is the mother of invention,” a Democratic strategist said. “Being outspent gives you incentive to circle wagons and be more strategic in how you approach these races.”
Republican-aligned groups are much less likely to run ads that have little or nothing to do with their issues. These groups are more likely to run spots that push varying messages and compete for political oxygen, other than their support for the GOP nominee or opposition to the Democratic nominee. In some cases, the ads are strategically questionable, such as when an outside group eschews negative advertising and runs positive spots, a move better left to the candidate.
An analysis of television advertising in this cycle’s top Senate contests, using data compiled by Center for Public Integrity, bears this out.
Nextgen Climate Action Committee is the super PAC run by billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer. But in Iowa, where Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley is battling Republican state Sen. Joni Ernst for an open Senate seat, Nextgen ran a generic television ad accusing Ernst of outsourcing jobs. In Colorado, where GOP Rep. Cory Gardner and Democratic Sen. Mark Udall, are competing for the female vote, Nextgen hit Gardner on birth control and same-sex marriage.
Also in the Centennial State, the Democratic-aligned education group Colorado Fair Share ran an ad that tied Gardner to the wealthy industrialists Charles and David Koch and said that he supports outsourcing and “big oil.”
Back in Iowa, meanwhile, the League of Conservations voters, another environmental group, ran an ad tying Ernst to the Koch brothers and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, asserting that she would shut down the Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The Republican-aligned groups have taken a different approach.
In Iowa, Concerned Veterans for America hit Braley over the scandal that has engulfed the Department of Veterans Affairs. In Colorado, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce funded a positive spot for Gardner and another attacking Udall for his position on government regulations. Many Republicans have been critical of the chamber over the years for declining to run more hard-hitting ads or being willing to stray beyond business issues.
The chamber defends its advertising strategy, noting its 14-1 record this cycle.
“In an effort to break through the clutter in target races, the Chamber has engaged key messengers to carry the free enterprise message,” said chamber spokeswoman Blair Holmes, referring to chamber ads that have included 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney; Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; and former NFL stars Herschel Walker and Brett Favre. “The Chamber brand is very powerful with voters who support free enterprise and we strategically approach each race based on Chamber principles.”
GOP operatives critical of their side’s third party advertising concede that some organizations, like Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Partners, as well as American Crossroads and its nonprofit affiliate, Crossroads GPS, have run ads with effective messaging. The Koch groups have largely focused on Obamacare; American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS on jobs, healthcare, government spending and the VA scandal.
Not all Republicans are concerned about the Democrats’ advantage in outside-group coordination. One GOP strategist that advises a third party group said that factor only matters in a nationalized election or a presidential contest, and argued that many targeted Senate races in the 2014 midterms are local in nature. Just because the Democrats and their supporters have agreed on which messages to run on, doesn’t mean they are going to resonate with voters.
“What works in Dubuque does not necessarily work in Lafayette,” the strategist said.
