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WATCH: Grimes Highlights Voting Rights In First Ad Of Kentucky Senate Race

WATCH: Grimes Highlights Voting Rights In First Ad Of Kentucky Senate Race

Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Democratic challenger to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), released her first statewide television ad of the 2014 campaign on Thursday.

The ad, titled “Lost in Battle,” highlights Grimes’ efforts to ensure that military personnel serving overseas have access to the ballot.

“Change can still happen here,” the ad’s narrator, military mother Lyne Dickey says over a shot of the Kentucky state capitol. “After she met with our military in the Middle East, Alison Lundergan Grimes came home and brought Democrats and Republicans together to pass a law ensuring every military vote would be counted.”

“I almost lost my son in Iraq. But what upset him most was his ballot being lost in battle,” Dickey continues. “Because of Alison, that will never happen again. Washington should work this way.”

The law in question is the Military Heroes Voting Initiative, which allows soldiers serving overseas to receive their ballots via email, before returning them to Kentucky through the regular mail system. Grimes, who championed the plan as secretary of state, is one of several Democrats using voting rights as a key issue in the midterm campaigns.

The ad’s focus on Grimes’ bipartisan work in Kentucky is clearly intended to draw a contrast with McConnell, whom the Democrat’s campaign has attacked as a “guardian of gridlock” in the Senate.

“The campaign is honored to highlight Alison’s accomplishment on this issue that is very close to her heart: helping our men and women in uniform,” Grimes senior advisor Jonathan Hurst said in a statement. “With Washington paralyzed by partisan gridock, Alison will be an independent, common-sense problem solver who fights for Kentucky values in the U.S. Senate.”

According to Grimes’ campaign, the ad is backed by a six-figure buy. It will be the secretary of state’s first statewide ad; by contrast, McConnell’s campaign has been on air for months with a series of positive ads intended to improve his lagging approval ratings, and beat back a primary challenge from Louisville businessman Matt Bevin.

McConnell is on pace to easily defeat Bevin in the May 20 primary, but his aggressive campaigning has not helped him build a lead against Grimes. Although the minority leader has outspent Grimes by a more than 4-1 margin, polls of the race have barely moved in a year, and the candidates remain in a virtual tie.

Screenshot: YouTube

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WATCH: Landrieu Touts Republican Supporter, Seniority In New Ad

WATCH: Landrieu Touts Republican Supporter, Seniority In New Ad

While most 2014 candidates are doing their best to distance themselves from Washington D.C., Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) is continuing to take the opposite course in her difficult re-election campaign.

On Monday, Senator Landrieu released a new campaign ad reminding voters of her powerful position as chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

“I have over 3,000 employees, and even though I’m a Republican and don’t always agree with her, Louisiana can’t afford to lose Mary Landrieu,” the ad’s star, ship builder Boysie Bollinger, says in the 30-second spot. “She’s chairman of the Energy Committee, the most powerful position a person can have for Louisiana.”

“It means more boats, more jobs, and more oil and gas. She does big things for Louisiana,” he continues, in a thick drawl. “I’m with Mary.”

“Ship builder” is Landrieu’s second consecutive ad to emphasize the importance of her chairmanship. The previous ad, released two weeks ago, generated controversy for its re-enactment of an Energy Committee hearing.

The oil and gas industry is a strong supporter of Landrieu’s re-election bid; the third-term incumbent has raised almost $600,000 from the sector, more than double the amount raised by her chief Republican rival, U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy.

The new ad, which stars a self-described Republican, also represents Landrieu’s latest in a long series of efforts to highlight her bipartisan credentials. In her 2008 re-election, exit polls found that Landrieu won 63 percent of moderate voters and 30 percent of conservatives; given the more conservative electorate that is likely to turn out in November’s midterm election, Landrieu will probably have to replicate (if not improve upon) those numbers to stand a chance.

Landrieu currently has a comfortable lead in the polls over her Republican opponents, but it appears she’ll fall short of the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff against the second-place candidate.

Screenshot: YouTube

WATCH: Landrieu Calls Obama ‘Simply Wrong’ In New Ad

WATCH: Landrieu Calls Obama ‘Simply Wrong’ In New Ad

Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA), one of the most vulnerable incumbents in the nation, is further distancing herself from President Barack Obama with the second television ad of her 2014 re-election campaign.

The ad, titled “Will Not Rest,” emphasizes Landrieu’s differences with the White House on energy policy. It shows Louisianans watching Landrieu on television, pointedly calling the president out.

“The administration’s policy is simply wrong when it comes to oil and gas production in this nation,” Landrieu says in one clip.

“We produce the oil and gas, that’s the message we told to the president,” she says in another.

There’s plenty of reason for Landrieu to distance herself from the president; his approval rating in Louisiana has hovered in the low 40s for most of his time in office. When President Obama visited the Port of New Orleans in November, Landrieu was noticeably absent.

In addition to featuring clips of Landrieu on Capitol Hill, the ad also includes a particularly unsubtle reminder of the benefits of a third-term senator’s seniority.

“Now as the new chairman of the Energy Committee…she holds the most powerful position in the Senate for Louisiana,” the ad’s narrator says at one point.

The energy industry certainly recognizes the value of Landrieu’s chairmanship of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. She has raised $593,886 the oil and gas industry in this cycle; her top Republican rival, U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy, has raised less than half of that amount.

Landrieu’s ad is backed by a $250,000 buy, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. That sum, while significant, still falls far short of the millions that Republican outside groups (such as the Koch brothers-backed Americans for Prosperity) have spent attacking Landrieu.

Landrieu and Cassidy are currently locked in a dead heat, according to TheHuffington Post’spolling average of the race.

Photo: Mary Landrieu via Flickr

WATCH: Does John Boehner Have ‘Electile Dysfunction?’

WATCH: Does John Boehner Have ‘Electile Dysfunction?’

Does House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) suffer from “electile dysfunction?”

That’s the assertion of a new YouTube ad from Boehner’s Republican primary challenger, J.D. Winteregg.

The ad, titled “When The Moment Is Right,” is a Boehner-themed parody of prescription drug ads.

“Other signs of electile dysfunction may include extreme skin discoloration, the inability to punch oneself out of a wet paper bag, or maintain a spine in the face of liberal opposition,” the ad’s narrator says.

He adds, “If you have a Boehner lasting longer than 23 years, seek immediate medical attention.”

Amusing ads aside, Winteregg has almost no chance of preventing Speaker Boehner from winning a 13th term in the House. At the time of the last report, the Tea Party-aligned high school teacher had raised just under $3,000 for the race — a tiny fraction of Boehner’s $11,020,540. Boehner has never won less than 60 percent of the vote in Ohio’s conservative 8th congressional district.

Still, the Speaker is not taking any chances; in early April, Boehner aired his first campaign ad since Republicans won the House in 2010.

Photo: Gage Skidmore via Flickr