"The Koch brothers are all but on the ballot"

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Democrats Take Aim at Early Flurry of GOP Ads
Americans for Prosperity, Funded By the Koch Brothers, at Top of Liberals' List 
By Thomas Catan and Rebecca Ballhaus

Democrats are moving to counter an unusually early ad blitz by the conservative group Americans for Prosperity by trying to turn voters against the group's wealthy donors.

The group, which receives funding from industrialists Charles and David Koch, has spent $28 million since October on ads backing conservative policy stances or which highlight the records of vulnerable Democratic candidates, an unusually large sum so early in the cycle.

Liberal super PACs and Democratic campaigns are answering with ads of their own, but they say they are unlikely to be able to match AFP's spending dollar for dollar, in part because their donors usually don't contribute this early in the election cycle.

Democrats say the disparity in spending in some states is large. In North Carolina, for example, Americans for Prosperity says it has spent $8.3 million in the last year on ads focusing on Sen. Kay Hagan (D., N.C.) or which attack the Democratic-backed health-care law or call for budget changes. Democratic groups, by contrast, have spent just under $2 million, according to the Hagan campaign.

Now Democratic candidates and their allies are invoking the financial supporters of Americans for Prosperity in an effort to neutralize the conservative ads and spur their own donors to open their wallets.

Ms. Hagan has appeared on left-leaning cable news channel MSNBC several times in recent weeks to attack the Koch brothers' opposition to the recently passed farm bill and their support for budget cuts known as sequestration. "These are not policies that North Carolinians want, and they're not going to be fooled by this outside money," the senator said during a Feb. 12 appearance.

A campaign spokesman for Sen. Mark Pryor (D., Ark.), Erik Dorey, said the campaign is telling supporters that the conservative PACs have an "unlimited resource of shady undisclosed outside dollars." Americans for Prosperity says it has spent about $600,000 against Mr. Pryor; his campaign says total spending against the senator has topped $4 million.

"The Koch brothers are all but on the ballot," said Craig Varoga, president of Patriot Majority USA, a liberal nonprofit and super PAC. "The real opponents in these elections is not the candidates the Koch brothers are trying to help, it's the Koch brothers themselves."

AFP scoffs at the focus on its donors, saying Democrats want to distract voters from their support for President Barack Obama's health law.

"Rather than try to protect Americans who have lost their insurance or lost access to their doctor, they are lashing out at us to divert attention," said Levi Russell, a spokesman for the group.

Robert Tappan, a spokesman for Koch Industries Inc., criticized Democratic officials for attacking "private citizens who are exercising their First Amendment rights…We hope the conversation can shift from attacking others to a discussion of substantive ideas.''

The kickoff to campaigning has come early this year. The number of political ads that aired in January was 58% higher than in the same month four years ago, according to Kantar Media Intelligence/Campaign Media Analysis Group, which monitors political advertising. The group doesn't say what share of the ads came from each party or its allies.

Americans for Prosperity contends it has spent $2.6 million in Louisiana opposing Sen. Mary Landrieu, as well as $450,000 in Alaska against Sen. Mark Begich. Like Mr. Pryor and Ms. Hagan, both are Democrats running for re-election in states that Mr. Obama lost in the 2012 presidential election.

Democratic campaigns and liberal super PACs say the early ad buys could damage their candidates, many of whom need to save their money for later in the year. At the same time, some are hoping that the early barrage, coming at a time when most voters aren't yet paying attention, could blunt the potency of the attacks as the November election draws closer.

Other groups also are seeking to answer AFP's attacks. Patriot Majority USA has spent more than $1 million in the last four months running ads supporting Democrats in North Carolina, Arkansas, Ohio and Kentucky. And the Democratic-aligned Senate Majority USA has spent more than $2.7 million supporting Democrats in North Carolina, Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana and New Hampshire.
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