Dem super-PAC hits Kochs in La., NC

Senate Majority PAC is launching two new ads hitting Republican Senate candidates in Louisiana and North Carolina as part of its $3 million offensive effort against the billionaire Koch brothers.

{mosads}The ad running in Louisiana charges that the brothers, David and Charles Koch, backed opposition to a fix to the flood insurance program, which passed this week with support from both Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) and her leading Republican challenger, Rep. Bill Cassidy (La.). The fix would prevents flood insurance rates from soaring — a crucial issue in the coastal state.

In North Carolina, the ad is March Madness-themed, and charges that while the GOP establishment pick to take on Sen. Kay Hagan (D), Thom Tillis, has been speaker of the North Carolina House, he’s backed tax cuts for the wealthy, and would support a plan if elected to the Senate to “end Medicare as we know it.”

Americans for Prosperity (AFP), a group backed by the Kochs, has poured more than $30 million into competitive races this cycle, and made North Carolina one of its top targets.

Both of Senate Majority PAC’s ads suggest the Kochs are trying to buy Senate seats. In Louisiana, the ad charges that the brothers are “spending millions to buy a seat for Bill Cassidy, so he can fight for them,” and in North Carolina, the ad calls the Koch brothers and Tillis “a win for the special interests.”

Democrats readily admit they’ll be outspent on air by GOP outside groups, as AFP has put no limit on how much it plans to spend this cycle. To dilute the group’s attacks, Democrats have launched a strategy to attack the Koch brothers themselves, in hopes of undermining the credibility of their ads.

A George Washington University Battleground poll out this week, however, indicated that strategy may be a long-shot, as a majority of Americans don’t know who the Kochs are.