The stories you want. The opinions that matter.
No, thanks
Tag: priorities usa
Trump Campaign Sues Over Ad Reciting His Pandemic Failures

Trump Campaign Sues Over Ad Reciting His Pandemic Failures

Donald Trump's reelection campaign filed a lawsuit Monday against a local television station in Wisconsin, accusing it of airing a campaign ad the suit calls "false and defamatory" — even though the ad accurately relays Trump's comments.

The ad, produced by the Democratic super PAC Priorities USA, uses audio clips of Trump downplaying the new coronavirus.

Read NowShow less
#EndorseThis: The Trump Campaign Doesn’t Want You To See This Ad

#EndorseThis: The Trump Campaign Doesn’t Want You To See This Ad

Considering how eagerly the Trump campaign instigates, spreads, retweets, and insistently encourages falsehoods, it is amusing to see them attempt to suppress an ad created by Priorities USA Action. The Democratic super PAC’s brief video reviews the president’s loony responses to the coronavirus pandemic and it is — as Trump himself might say — “perfect” in its accuracy.

The stench of hypocrisy will never stop the Trumpsters from seeking to suppress the truth, of course, which is why they sent a “cease and desist” letter to broadcasters concerning this ad. But they can’t stop you from watching it here — or from sharing it with all your friends.

Clinton Super PAC Hits Trump Hard In Two New Ads

Clinton Super PAC Hits Trump Hard In Two New Ads

“Blood coming out of her… wherever.”

“Does she have a good body? No. Does she have a fat a**? Absolutely.”

“There has to be some form of punishment.”

Hillary Clinton is still dealing with a formidable primary foe on her left in Bernie Sanders, but her team — and plenty of supportive super PACs — are looking to her right, unveiling early attack ads exposing Donald Trump’s wildly misogynistic statements ahead of a much-anticipated general election battle.

One super PAC supporting Clinton, Priorities USA Action, rolled out a pair of hard-hitting television ads in the swing states of Florida, Ohio, Virginia, and Nevada hours before voting was underway in Kentucky and Oregon’s democratic primaries. Clinton and her backers have carefully calculated when, where, and how to go about releasing pricey television ads, which are no longer as effective as in previous election cycles. Case in point: In 2012 the same super PAC poured nearly all of its money into TV ads backing Obama, but this year reserved $35 million for digital ads. These new ads deviate from the norm: They’re blunt, perhaps just as blunt as Trump’s Twitter feed.

One of them, “Speaks,” features women lip-syncing to audio clips of Trump spewing insulting comments about women. The second ad, “Respect,” follows a similar pattern, but broadens the rhetoric to include Trump’s insults about Muslims and immigrants. These ads follow Clinton’s most explosive ad thus far, released earlier this month, which featured GOP leaders criticizing Trump.

Trump, on the other hand, has chosen a different route in attacking Clinton. He has targeted her repeatedly via his infamous Twitter account but has only released one ad, in which he made fun of her foreign policy stances by showing her barking like a dog.

Priorities USA released the pair of ads a few weeks ahead of schedule, a slight shift in strategy that Clinton’s supporters hope will give her an early edge by burying Trump’s chances with women voters (Campaigns are prohibited from coordinating directly with PACs.) A national CBS poll released in April showed Clinton leading Trump 58 percent to 31 percent among women.

Priorities USA, one of many outside groups spending money in support of Clinton’s candidacy, will be pouring a hefty $130 million into its advertising campaign against Trump in key swing states. Clinton is also anticipating a wave of donations from fundraisers who previously backed Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio — some have already started donating. Clinton spokesman Josh Schwerin did not deny the possibility that Clinton’s team could seek support from key GOP leaders such as Bush, whose super PACs left roughly $17 million on the table following his dropping out of the race.

Photo and videos: Priorities USA Action. 

Republicans Are Way Ahead — In SuperPAC Money

Republicans Are Way Ahead — In SuperPAC Money

The 2016 election is turning into a crowded marathon — and a mad dash for money. And while a certain Democratic frontrunner might be ahead in the polls, it turns out that Republicans are actually in the lead in the money race.

In the post-Citizens United world, campaign fundraising has become bifurcated, split between the candidates themselves and the “SuperPACs” — separate organizations that technically don’t coordinate with candidates, but effectively are farmed out to raise a lot of money to run ads that support a specific candidate and/or trash their opponents. And this route is where Republicans are really outpacing the Democrats.

With 15 declared candidates, Republicans, of course, have a much larger and seemingly more competitive field than the Democrats. So a lot of that money will end up being spent on candidates who won’t actually make it to the ballot on November 8, 2016. On the other hand, all that primary spending could still have some effect in building up Republican mobilization overall.

Hillary Clinton raised $45 million for her campaign — by far the largest amount going directly to a campaign committee at this stage of the race. Add to that $15.6 million by the pro-Clinton SuperPAC, Priorities USA, and Clinton’s overall strength is roughly $62 million.

But look over on the other side of the field: Jeb Bush’s campaign committee raised $11.4 million — while his Right to Rise USA SuperPAC announced that it’s raised a total of $103 million so far this year. This brings Jeb’s effective total fundraising haul to an intimidating lucre of $114 million — nearly twice the overall financing for Clinton. No other candidate even comes close to Jeb Bush’s campaign finance structure, which is weighted so heavily outside of the official campaign itself.

Bernie Sanders surprised the political world when he raised $15 million, the closest of any possible Democratic competitors against Clinton. Sanders has also said he does not want any SuperPAC. However, as The Washington Post reports, at least one supporter out there is trying to start one up and get billionaire support.

Trailing way behind Sanders on the Democratic side is Martin O’Malley, who raised $2 million.

Among other Republican candidates besides Bush, there are also some impressive hauls that even approach Clinton’s. Ted Cruz has raised $14 million, plus $37 million by his friendly SuperPAC, for $51 million overall. Marco Rubio brought in about $13 million on his own, plus $32 million raised by two different outside groups, for a total of $45 million.

And even among candidates who weren’t in the race as of last quarter, there have been impressive showings by SuperPACs. Chris Christie’s allies brought in $11 million. And a group supporting John Kasich — who still isn’t in the race yet — brought in $11.5 million.

Photo: Jeb Bush, May 16, 2015, iprimages via Flickr