Alaska Super PAC Hits Begich in 3 Radio Ads
An Alaska-based super PAC supporting one of Democratic Sen. Mark Begich’s Republican challengers is launching its first three ads of the campaign on Friday.
The radio ads are an opening salvo for the group, Alaska’s Energy/America’s Values, which backs former Natural Resources Commissioner Dan Sullivan. The group spent about about $12,000 to air the ads over the next five days in Anchorage and Matanuska Valley.
While the buy size isn’t significantly large, the messaging offers a strong hint of the TV ads that are likely forthcoming. Each of the three 60-second ads mentions Begich’s support of Obamacare. One also notes the incumbent’s support of Obama’s appointees, including Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, and questions where he stands on an oil tax rewrite referendum in the state this year.
“Today the American dream is being suffocated, and Senator Mark Begich is part of the problem,” the ad’s announcer says in one. It goes on to introduce Sullivan, who is also a former state attorney general and lieutenant colonel in the Marine Reserves, and includes an audio clip of Sullivan saying, “Washington is broken.”
Notably, the ads do not mention either of Sullivan’s primary opponents, Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell and attorney Joe Miller. That contest won’t take place until Aug. 19.
Begich recently released a radio ad touting his own opposition to administration policies affecting Alaska, including pushing for more oil drilling and mining.
The race is rated Tossup/Tilt Democratic by Rothenberg Political Report/Roll Call.