For the big-spending U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the 2012 election season began early with a flurry of hard-hitting ads in six states that included attacks on two vulnerable Democratic senators — a harbinger of the $50 million-plus drive it plans to mount this election year.
To help Republicans gain control of both houses of Congress, the Chamber dropped about $2 million on “issue advocacy” ads late last year — in Iowa, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington.
In February, the pro-business behemoth poured another $10 million into ads aimed mostly at weakening Democrats and bolstering GOP members in eight Senate and 12 House contests. Just one ad was supportive of a Democrat’s positions.
This hefty and early ad spending underscores the huge political stakes in the coming congressional elections for many of the Chamber’s most generous corporate supporters — including energy, insurance, health care and Wall Street firms.
Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, for one, has been targeted by the Chamber with almost $2.5 million worth of slick spots saying he “voted to block American energy production and increase energy taxes.”
Some of the ads have been criticized by independent fact-checking groups and one drew barbs because it showed a sinister-looking Brown sporting a beard in what appears to be a doctored photo.
The Chamber’s key issues — attacking “government-run” health care, federal curbs on domestic energy production and “job-killing regulations” — have been standard lobbying themes during the Obama years.
“We hope and plan to have the most aggressive issue advocacy campaign,” ever run by the Chamber, Bruce Josten the group’s top lobbyist told iWatch News.
Springtime ad spree
The Chamber’s issue ads don’t urge votes for specific candidates, but do discuss where candidates stand on several of the Chamber’s leading “free enterprise” issues.