Pro-Cochran group slams ‘hypocrite’ opponent

A pro-Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) group is launching a new ad charging his primary challenger, state Sen. Chris McDaniel, has “taken both sides” on a number of hot-button issues.

The ad, from Mississippi Conservatives PAC, charges that McDaniel has both been in favor of and against tort reform, for and against Common Core educational standards and “on both sides” on earmarks.

It points to his legal career and votes he’s taken in the state legislature as evidence, in particular, a vote he took for a bill that the group says earmarked $2,000,000 to the Cleveland Music Foundation in support of the Grammy Museum.

That’s in contrast to criticism McDaniel has lobbed against Cochran for supporting federal earmarks, including, he’s said, $200,000 sent to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On-screen text calls McDaniel’s vote “hypocrisy.”

Noel Fritsch, McDaniel’s communications director, slammed the ad as a distraction.

“Sen. Cochran and his lobbyist friends will say anything to try to distract voters from Sen. Cochran’s record of voting for bailouts, debt ceiling increases, tax increases and taxpayer-funded abortion,” he said. “The truth is, Sen. Cochran has been one of the biggest proponents of wasteful government spending while state Sen. Chris McDaniel has been a conservative leader in Mississippi. No wonder Sen. Cochran’s campaign is so afraid.”

Cochran is seen as the most vulnerable Republican incumbent facing a primary challenge, and McDaniel has picked up the support of every national conservative group that has weighed in the race, some of which have invested in ads attacking Cochran.