OVERNIGHT CAMPAIGN: It’s hip to be cheap on the trail

Rep. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) is so cheap he wears a hole-filled sweatshirt and hasn’t replaced his washing machine in more than a decade.

That’s not an attack from his Republican opponent, Terri Lynn Land, in Michigan’s Senate race — that’s a brag from Peters in his newest ad.

“The way I was brought up, you don’t spend money you don’t have,” Peters says in the ad, going on to tout his fiscal responsibility in office.

{mosads}His ad is the latest example of a pervasive trend on the campaign trail this cycle: candidates — often featuring their families as messengers — touting their frugality at home as evidence they’ll bring those same values to the House or Senate.

At a time when voters rate the national debt as a top concern and are tightening their own belts, it’s no longer shameful to be a cheapskate — at least not on the campaign trail.

 

SENATE SHOWDOWN

GA-SEN (OPEN): The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) Action Fund threw its weight behind Democrat Michelle Nunn in the midterm race for Georgia’s Senate seat. Nunn, a former nonprofit executive, would work for sound environmental policies and commonsense measures to protect resources, the group said Tuesday.

KS-SEN (ROBERTS): Sen. Pat Roberts’s (R-Kan.) former primary opponent weighed in on Roberts’s reelection fight Tuesday, calling for the Kansas Republican Party to “stop the personal attacks.” Meanwhile, Roberts is getting an assist on Thursday from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R). And on the campaign trail Tuesday, Roberts warned of impending “national socialism.”

LA-SEN (LANDRIEU): Former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney is heading to New Orleans to raise money for Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-La.).

NC-SEN (HAGAN), LA-SEN (LANDRIEU), CO-SEN (UDALL), IA-SEN (OPEN): The gun control group bankrolled by billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) endorsed vulnerable incumbent Democratic Sens. Kay Hagan (N.C.), Mark Udall (Colo.) and Mary Landrieu (La.), as well as Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa), who is battling for the seat to be vacated by retiring Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).

 

BATTLE FOR THE HOUSE

FL-2 (SOUTHERLAND): The first debate between Rep. Steve Southerland (R-Fla.) and Democrat Gwen Graham got fiercely personal, with Graham accusing the congressman of lying and Southerland dismissing her attacks. “I wish I could tell you I pay attention to your challenges, but I don’t,” Southerland said at one point.

NY-21 (OPEN): Republican chances of picking up retiring Rep. Bill Owens’s (D-N.Y.) seat increased this week with Republican Elise Stefanik nabbing the Independence Party nomination and her former GOP primary challenger officially coming off the ballot. Further confirming the GOP’s advantage, Democratic group House Majority PAC canceled a $300,000 ad reservation in the district.

GA-12 (BARROW): The National Rifle Association is backing Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.), giving the Deep South’s last white House Democrat a potentially big boost in his reelection push.

AZ-02 (BARBER): Former Rep. Gabby Giffords’s (D-Ariz.) gun control group is pulling down a controversial ad running in her old House district after the candidate it attacked said she supported a proposal it’s been championing.

 

AD WATCH

AK-SEN (BEGICH): Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) says she’s “disappointed with the dishonest attacks” on Republican nominee Dan Sullivan in a new ad from Sullivan’s campaign.

KS-SEN (ROBERTS): In its first ad against businessman Greg Orman, GOP outside group Freedom Partners ties the independent to President Obama and the Democratic Party in the Kansas Senate race.

NH-SEN (SHAHEEN): New Hampshire Republican Senate candidate Scott Brown calls Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) “confused about the nature of the threat” from Islamic militants in a new ad.

KY-SEN (MCCONNELL): The pro-Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Kentucky Opportunity Coalition launched a new ad charging that Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes supports “amnesty” for illegal immigrants. Meanwhile, Grimes launched a new ad touting her support for an increase in the minimum wage, fair pay and job-training programs for veterans.

MI-SEN (OPEN): Rep. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) touts how “cheap” he is in a new ad featuring his family. Meanwhile, a new GOP group, B-PAC, is hitting him with an ad on national security.

CO-SEN (UDALL): A Crossroads GPS ad features a woman calling it “insulting” for Sen. Mark Udall (D) to assume “we’re single-issue voters,” while Udall and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee launch a Spanish-language ad aimed at women. The National Education Association went up with a Spanish-language ad as well, featuring Spanish speakers talking about education.

AR-SEN (PRYOR): The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee hits Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on Medicare.

NC-SEN (HAGAN): Carolina Rising, a conservative outside group, has an ad featuring parents of an autistic child saying North Carolina Speaker Thom Tillis (R) “will fight for people like us.”

IA-SEN (OPEN): American Crossroads hits Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) for his support from an environmental group, suggesting he shifted his position on the Keystone XL oil pipeline to appeal to the group.

AZ-01 (KIRKPATRICK), AZ-02 (BARBER), CA-07 (BERA), CO-06 (COFFMAN), FL-02 (SOUTHERLAND), GA-12 (BARROW), MN-07 (PETERSON), NY-01 (BISHOP), and WV-03 (OPEN): The National Republican Congressional Committee launched ads hitting Democratic Reps. Ann Kirkpatrick (Ariz.), Ron Barber (Ariz.), Ami Bera (Calif.), John Barrow (Ga.), Collin Peterson (Minn.) and Tim Bishop (N.Y.) and attacking Democratic challengers running against GOP Reps. Mike Coffman (Colo.) and Steve Southerland (Fla.) and for an open West Virginia seat.

IA-3 (OPEN): The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee accuses former Hill staffer David Young (R) of looking out for Wall Street over Hartford, Iowa’s Wall Street in a new ad.

NJ-3 (OPEN): The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee pulled its ad hitting Republican Tom MacArthur for complaints against his former insurance company, filed for actions it took after he sold it.

IL-10 (SCHNEIDER): Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee attack former Rep. Bob Dold (R-Ill.), hitting him over Medicare, defunding Planned Parenthood and oil drilling in Lake Michigan.

 

POLL POSITION

AR-SEN (PRYOR): Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) takes 43 percent support to Sen. Mark Pryor’s (D) 38 percent support in a new survey conducted by Democratic firm Public Policy Polling.

MI-SEN (OPEN): Rep. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) takes 47 percent support to Republican Terri Lynn Land’s 40 percent support in a new survey, conducted by Democratic firm Public Policy Polling for the pro-Peters League of Conservation Voters.

AK-SEN (BEGICH): Former Alaska Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Dan Sullivan (R) leads Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) 42 percent to 40 percent, according to a survey from Democratic-leaning firm Public Policy Polling.

NC-SEN (HAGAN): Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) has 42 percent support to North Carolina Speaker Thom Tillis’s (R) 40 percent support in a new poll from High Point University.

HI-2 (OPEN): Former Rep. Charles Djou (R-Hawaii) leads Democrat Mark Takai 46 percent to 42 percent in a poll conducted for the Honolulu Civil Beat in the notoriously hard-to-poll state.

IA-3 (OPEN): A new poll conducted for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and obtained by The Hill shows former Iowa state Sen. Staci Appel (D) with 47 percent support to former congressional staffer David Young’s (R) 44 percent.

 

2016 RUMBLINGS

Republican politicians rumored to be considering White House bids are throwing their weight behind a proposal to ban abortions at 20 weeks. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and sitting Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Ted Cruz (Texas) have written letters of support, according to a recent report by the Christian Broadcasting Network.

CLINTON: Hillary Clinton will campaign next month for Charlie Crist, Florida’s Democratic nominee for governor. Clinton will attend a “dinner reception” for Crist on Oct. 2 in Miami, according to an invitation posted on Crist campaign Chairman Bob Poe’s Facebook page.

CHRISTIE: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) is heading back to Iowa. Christie will be in the early-caucus state for a birthday fundraiser for Gov. Terry Branstad (R) on Oct. 25, according to The Des Moines Register. It will be his first visit to the state since July.

BUSH: Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) is heading to South Carolina next month to headline a fundraiser for the state’s Gov. Nikki Haley (R), according to CNN. Bush’s stop on Oct. 23 would be his first trip to an early primary state this year — South Carolina holds the first presidential primary in the South. Bush is also holding a Senate fundraiser in Tampa tonight for Republicans Tom Cotton (Ark.), Dan Sullivan (Alaska), Cory Gardner (Iowa), Joni Ernst (Iowa) and Monica Wehby (Ore.)

WEBB: Former Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) said Tuesday that he is “seriously looking” at the possibility of running for president. Webb is a former Navy secretary and Marine who fought in Vietnam. In comments at the National Press Club, he framed himself as someone able to work with both parties to get things done, and spoke out about the danger of interventions in the Middle East.

 

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“And while we wish we could support the man who once posed nude in our pages, his policy positions just aren’t as solid as his abs were in the ’80s. We support Jeanne Shaheen for Senate.”

—Cosmo magazine, endorsing Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) for reelection over former Cosmo model and former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown (R)