If you’ve already checked out SSP’s Independent Expenditure Tracker today (and I trust that you’ve been checking it daily), you’ve noticed that there have been a flurry of IEs in a number of House races in recent days. The biggest and baddest are these two investments made by the National Association of Realtors PAC:
- CA-11: $203,000 on media buys for Jerry McNerney
- PA-11: $382,500 for media buys for Paul Kanjorski (cycle-to-date: $616K)
I just checked into NARPAC’s 2006 activities to compare with what they’ve been up to so far this cycle. During that cycle, they involved themselves in three House races and three Senate races: IL-08 ($465K for Dem Rep. Melissa Bean), KY-03 ($1 million for GOP Rep. Ann Northup), NM-01 ($762K for GOP Rep. Heather Wilson), MO-Sen ($949K for GOP Sen. Jim Talent), HI-Sen ($602K for Dem primary challenger Ed Case), and NE-Sen ($173K for Dem Sen. Ben Nelson). An “interesting mix”, you might say.
So far, the Realtors haven’t dropped a penny for any Republicans, so this could be what a rock-solid majority buys you. We’ll be keeping an eye out on their next moves.
In other IE news, the NRCC has recently commissioned polls in six vulnerable districts: AL-02, ID-01, NJ-03, NV-03, OH-02, PA-03. Will the results ever see the light of day? We’ll be waiting.
I could have sworn they donated mostly to republicans. I guess it’s not surprising either way since many PACS are bandwagoners who will back whomever is in power.
I took a look at the IE Tracker, and I’d like to know who the American Academy Of Ophthalmology is, and why they are polling in IA-02. Did Dave Loebsack piss off a bunch of eye doctors or something?
Didn’t the NARPAC donate nearly half a million to one of the Republican candidates in the NM-2 Primary Election? I think he came in 3rd.