The Center for Public Integrity

The YG Action Fund, a super PAC associated with the conservative “Young Guns” movement led by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan, reported spending nearly $2 million on ads in three Democrat-held congressional districts.

While the Young Guns is associated with the National Republican Congressional Committee, YG Action Fund is independently managed and independently financially backed, with support coming from super donor Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam, who gave it $5 million in April, and by a handful of smaller donors, including Cantor’s leadership PAC, Every Republican Is Crucial (ERICPAC).

The new ads oppose Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-N.C., Maj. Gen. Bill Enyart, the Democrat running in Illinois’ 12th District, and Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass.

McIntrye faces Republican state Sen. David Rouzer in North Carolina’s 7th District, one of the more expensive House races in the country. The district has attracted $1.6 million in outside spending so far, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

“Two Mikes” says McIntyre “talks like a conservative” but has voted like a liberal.

Enyart, a retired general who until recently headed Illinois’ National Guard, faces Republican businessman Jason Plummer for retiring Democratic Rep. Jerry Costello’s seat in Illinois’ 12th District.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees joins the political spending spree with more than $2.8 million in new ads, Federal Election Commission reports show.

While the union itself has already made a handful of ad buys this election, Thursday’s buy represents the first major round of ads this season from AFSCME’s political action committee, AFSCME PEOPLE (which stands for “Public Employees Organized to Promote Legislative Equality”).

AFSCME PEOPLE launched three ads:

• “Washington Changed Us,” which opposes former Wisconsin Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson’s senatorial run against Democratic Rep. Tammy Baldwin. The ad cost $966,000;
• “Side,” which opposes the re-election of Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., who is being challenged by Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley. The ad cost $1.1 million;
• “Mortgages,” a radio ad that opposes Heller and cost $105,000.

AFSCME the union also spent $768,000 on “Gamble,” opposing Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., who is challenging Democratic Sen. Jon Tester.

Conservative outside spending groups are welcoming President Barack Obama to Charlotte, N.C., with a barrage of attack ads.

At least three conservative nonprofits and the Republican National Committee are running television and print ads as Obama prepares to give his acceptance speech for the presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte Thursday night.

The Republican Jewish Coalition attacked the new Democratic platform that removed certain pro-Israel language from platforms of years passed — some of which was replaced.

It bought $75,000 worth of ad space in the Charlotte Observer highlighting the difference between the 2008 platform and the 2012 platform. One of the sticking points — that the platform removed a statement about Jerusalem being the capital of Israel — has since been reinstated, at Obama’s insistence, albeit amid some confusion, AP reported.

The ad is also slated to run next week in Jewish newspapers in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Nevada.

The nonprofit American Future Fund attempts to draw attention away from what Democrats call the Republicans’ “war on women” with the ad “What’s at Stake.”

The ad, airing in North Carolina, features pro-choice women saying a woman’s right to choose is not at stake in this election — the “future of America” is. The women say that is the reason they are voting for GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney and running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan.

Amid a flurry of nasty ads released yesterday, one stands out for its … cuteness.

“Short Leash” from the Democrat-aligned super PAC Majority PAC is an attack ad starring a puggle (a designer breed of a pug and beagle mix) aimed at North Dakota Rep. Rick Berg, a Republican running for U.S. Senate against former Attorney General Heidi Heitkamp.

“Rick Berg talks big in North Dakota but does what he’s told in Washington,” the narrator says, while the obedient pup pants happily in front of the Capitol.

The ad goes on to detail the ways in which Berg has voted the party line, including on Medicare, and asks, “Do we really want a senator on a short leash in Washington?”

Majority PAC has hit Berg before on some of the same claims listed in “Short Leash.” At least four other ads from Majority PAC claim Berg voted to “cut Medicare.”

Berg has in fact voted with his party on all major issues this Congress, according to the Washington Post’s congressional votes database, but the Medicare claims are a little more complicated.

Each party accuses the other of seeking major Medicare cuts: Democrats criticize the cost-saving measures in Rep. Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan, and Republicans criticize those in President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

“There are always going to be bumps on the road to recovery,” President Barack Obama’s voice says as the camera pans over men and women lying on their backs across a dirt road.

A man in a plaid shirt rolls over. He stands up. In his hands is a sign saying, “I want a job when I graduate.”

“I’m an American. Not a bump in the road,” he says.

One by one, each person lying on the road stands up, holding a sign about unemployment, repeating, “I’m an American. Not a bump in the road.”

The new ad from the Republican National Committee seeks to hit Obama where Americans perceive his weakness to be — in unemployment and economic recovery.

Obama’s management of the economy may be the single biggest obstacle to his re-election, and more than half of Americans disapprove of his economic management, according to a poll from The New York Times/CBS.

But is this fair?

A new report from The Economist suggests that unemployment would have actually been higher without Obama’s $800 billion stimulus package, which Republican outside spending groups have repeatedly referred to as the “failed stimulus.”

“Conservatives say stimulus does not work,” says The Economist.  But “most impartial work suggests they are wrong.”

The magazine cites a study from Daniel Wilson of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, which found that stimulus spending created or saved 3.4 million jobs, which echoes what the Congressional Budget Office estimated.

New ads in Illinois and Wisconsin mark what the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee says is its first foray into those states with independent television advertising, Federal Election Commission reports show.

Three ads will air in congressional districts in those states aiming to convince undecided voters to elect Democrats to the U.S. House of Representatives.

In Illinois’ newly created 13th District, “Enough Is Enough” attacks Rodney Davis, the GOP nominee for U.S. House. The ad highlights Davis’ appearance on the “clout list” of disgraced former Gov. George Ryan, who is in jail on corruption charges.

Davis’ campaign criticized the DCCC ad Wednesday morning saying that Davis was added to the list without his “approval, consent of knowledge” and “he never asked for a favor, job or political help.”

Davis, an aide to U.S. Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., faces physician David Gill, the Democrat, in the fall.

In Illinois’ 12th District, the DCCC released “Protecting the Middle Class,” supporting Gen. Bill Enyart. A Democrat, Enyart was the commander of the Illinois National Guard.

Enyart faces Republican Jason Plummer in the bid to win the seat of retiring Democratic Rep. Jerry Costello in what is expected to be a competitive race.

The DCCC also released an ad attacking Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis., who is running for re-election in Wisconsin’s 7th District. Duffy rose to fame as a star on MTV’s “Real World” in 1997, later became a sports commentator for ESPN and then served as a Wisconsin district attorney.

Until recently, the National Rifle Association’s primary involvement in the 2012 election has been limited to renting booths at state fairs and circulating flyers and bumper stickers, plus the occasional low-budget TV or radio buy.

But thanks to the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, the powerful gun rights group has stepped up its game. A $420,000 ad buy last week followed by a $358,000 buy reported Tuesday shows the NRA is ready to invest in more than just convincing fair- and rodeo-goers to vote against President Barack Obama.

The NRA Institute for Legislative Action’s new ads, released Monday, attack the records of Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, who are both running for U.S. Senate — and Federal Election Commission filings indicate Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, is the next target.

“Bill Nelson Needs to Go” notes the Florida senator’s approval of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who said in a 2004 ruling that gun ownership is “not a fundamental right.”

“You can’t be a pro-gun senator when you back anti-gun judges,” the ad says.

“Stand for Freedom, Stand against Tim Kaine” says that Kaine received a grade of “F” from the NRA for making gun control part of the Democratic National Committee’s agenda when he was chairman.

The NRA Institute for Legislative Action is the lobbying arm of the NRA, according to its website. The institute was established in 1975 both to pursue the group’s legislative agenda and to educate the public.

An anti-abortion group released an ad featuring an “abortion survivor” accusing then-Illinois state Sen. Barack Obama of voting to “deny basic, constitutional protections for babies born alive from an abortion.”

The nonprofit Susan B. Anthony List ad references the fracas that surrounded President Obama’s voting record on a bill that would protect babies that have survived abortions.

“How Will You Answer?” features Melissa Ohden.

“I’m going to tell you something you may not know. Many children, more than you might think, actually survived failed abortions and are born alive,” Ohden says. “I know, because I’m one of them.”

How Will You Answer? will air in Missouri at a cost of $150,000. Women’s rights have consumed the public conversation following remarks about “legitimate rape” made by the state’s Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, Todd Akin.

Ohden refers to Obama’s votes in the Illinois State Senate against the Illinois Born Alive Protection Act in 2001, an issue first brought to national attention in 2008 by nurse-turned-activist Jill Stanek.

The ad implies Obama would leave babies who survive abortions to die, which is inaccurate. Obama voted against the act, but noted Illinois state law requires physicians to use life-saving measures should an aborted fetus in fact be born alive.

Obama maintained that his primary opposition to the state bill — of which the U.S. Congress passed a federal version in 2002 — was that it undermines Roe v. Wade and a women’s right to choose.

Furthermore, according to Illinois news media, there was no evidence that babies born alive after failed abortions were being left to die.

But Stanek, the anti-abortion nurse-activist, testified that she saw babies being abandoned to die at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Ill.

Republicans are trying to peel away support from popular former Gov. Angus King, an independent, who is favored to win a U.S. Senate seat made more competitive by the retirement of senior Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe.

Maine Freedom, a new super PAC, spent $137,000 on an ad supporting Cynthia Dill, the Democratic candidate and opposing King. The  super PAC has some strong Republican connections.

As reported Friday by the Bangor Daily News, the group's treasurer is Michael Adams, general counsel for the Republican Governors Association. Adams is also a member of the Republican National Lawyers Association, according to his profile at law firm Dinsmore & Shohl, where he is an elections lawyer.

The super PAC’s assistant treasurer, Erin Berry, is also a former lawyer for the RGA and previously worked at the Republican State Leadership Committee, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Republicans apparently hope to split the Democratic vote between King and Dill, thus giving Republican candidate, Charlie Summers, a chance at victory.

The RGA, a politically active nonprofitwhose mission is to elect Republican governors, is not involved with the Maine Freedom super PAC, according to spokesman Mike Schrimpf.

“The RGA has zero involvement with the group. We are not funding it, helping with strategy, anything,” Schrimpf said in an email to the Center. “The only connection is the RGA’s counsel, Mike Adams.”

"Tiger Blood” is the name of a new ad from a Democratic super PAC, Majority PAC, targeting Rep. Connie Mack, R-Fla., a reference to the always-entertaining Charlie Sheen’s explanation for his ability to ingest copious amounts of harmful substances without dying.

The ad calls the U.S. Senate candidate “the Charlie Sheen of Florida politics,” accusing him of a having a history of “bar brawls, road rage and resisting arrest.”

Mack, whose real name is Cornelius Harvey McGillicuddy IV, has said he was “minding his own business” and “sober” when trouble found him, according to a report from the Associated Press. The incidents occurred when the 45-year-old Mack was in his early twenties.

Mack is running against incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat. Majority PAC’s mission is to maintain the Democrats’ majority in the Senate.

The ad also attacks Mack’s personal financial history, claiming he has a history of “debts and liens” and has overdrawn his checking account. Both claims are true, according to a February report from The Miami Herald.

“Tiger Blood” also claims that Mack was sued by his yacht club and condo association. Mack was indeed sued by the club, and his Fort Myers-area condo association filed a $2,160 lien against him in 2006, the Herald reported.

The ad is currently only available to Web users who know the link, which Politico published this morning.