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Campaign Spot-Light: Nancy Pelosi Returns to TV In a GOP Primary

Welcome to Roll Call’s new feature to highlight the most interesting campaign ads every week.  

In fall 2012, Roll Call ran a similar daily feature highlighting the goodthe vicious  and the wild  of political ads. We planned to bring the feature back this fall, but the early influx of advertising in campaigns this cycle prompted a speedier comeback.  

More than anything else, Roll Call seeks to highlight ads that break through the clutter in this new weekly feature. Here are those TV ads from this week:  

Idaho’s 2nd District: Nancy Pelosi’s GOP Primary Cameo  Conservative groups spent big bucks  over the last four years making House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the bogeyman in television ads targeting Democrats.  

Now, outside groups backing the two Republicans running in this safe GOP primary are trying to tar the opposition with an association to Pelosi.  

The most recent instance of this came this week from a tea party group.  

Ad Buyer: Madison Action Fund
Ad buy:  The group says they put $34,000 behind the spot, which includes Fox News and “some broadcast.”
The Race:  Attorney Bryan Smith is challenging Republican Rep. Mike Simpson of Idaho. Groups like Madison and the Club for Grown would like to see their candidate, Smith, oust Simpson, a Boehner ally.  

In the spot, Simpson “joined Pelosi in voting to take more of your money to fund sex study programs of San Francisco prostitutes.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoAtZhLnX5s

But Pelosi also surfaced in an ad from Defending Main Street super PAC, a group that backs Simpson.  

Ad Buyer: Defending Main Street Super PAC
Ad Buy Info:  A three-week, six-figure buy, according to a CQ Roll Call Report. A couple of weeks ago, the super PAC — which supports Simpson — aired an ad with an edited clip of Chris Chocola, the president of the Club for Growth. Chocola said something briefly positive about Pelosi, and the super PAC used his words to tie that to Smith.  

www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9LioYqy35A
 
Iowa’s 3rd District: Do You Believe in Magic?
Ad Buyer: Young For Iowa
Ad buy: The Young campaign has a three week buy on broadcast in Des Moines, Iowa, and on Des Moines and Omaha, Neb., cable television.
The Race:  Republican David Young is running for the 3rd District, which is open because Republican Rep. Tom Latham is retiring. Young is the underdog in a field of six candidates. If he has any chance in his primary, he’ll need to pull some tricks out of his sleeve. And, well… www.youtube.com/watch?v=je57zPXo4gQ  

“Iowa’s answer is not magic,” a male narrator says. “It’s David Young.”  

This is how we feel about this ad:  

https://youtu.be/m5-prVSTJ6c  

Emily Cahn contributed to this report.  
Have an ad you think we should see? Email it here with “Political Ad” in the subject line.
If you are a consultant, please include media buy info if available. There’s a warm seat in Roll Call hell for those who portray Web videos without any cash behind them as television ads.
If you are a voter and noticed an interesting spot, please describe it and tell us the program and network where you saw it run. 

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