The US Chamber in the News - September 20

Posted by Marcia Carroll on September 20, 2012

Chamber launches ads in four states

The Chamber of Commerce is going up with new ads in four states — including a couple where other Republican groups aren’t running ads. The new ads will run in Hawaii, New Mexico, Virginia and Wisconsin. The first two states are blue states where national Republicans either haven’t run ads (Hawaii) or have pulled their advertising (New Mexico). Scott Reed, a media consultant working with the Chamber on the ads, said the name of the game is expanding the field of play.

“Our strategy all year has been to try to grow the map and get more Senate races to be competitive,” Reed said. “These are markets that where we think we can move some voters using brand of the Chamber.” The ads (which can be seen here) focus on former Virginia governor Tim Kaine’s (D) energy record, former Hawaii governor Linda Lingle’s (R) business record (a positive spot), Rep. Martin Heinrich’s (D-N.M.) ties to Washington and Rep. Tammy Baldwin’s (D-Wis.) vote for Obamacare and its Medicare cuts. [The Washington Post]

Commerce Chamber Spends At Least $170K On Lingle Ads

The Chamber of Commerce this week spent at least $170,500 on ads endorsing Republican  U.S. Senate candidate Linda Lingle. The buys could have totaledas much as $250,000, according to data from the Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group. That’s on top of the roughly $730,000 that the Chamber spent on pro-Lingle spots before the primary.  [Honolulu Civil Beat]

King announces recent endorsements; polls released; Chamber files spending

It’s been a busy day tracking developments in the Maine Senate race. Independent former Gov. Angus King announced endorsements from a number of organizations in Portland, two independent polls were released and showed his lead in the campaign for Maine’s open U.S. Senate seat shrinking, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed reports with the Federal Election Commission showing it’s spending $439,000 on its latest ad attacking King.  [Capitol Incite]

Ohio Senate Race Close as $17 Million in Ads Hammer Brown

Ohio Republican Josh Mandel…has aired the most, 7,238, followed by 6,855 from Crossroads GPS, the nonprofit group founded with help from Republican strategist Karl Rove, and 6,472 from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the largest U.S. business lobby. Brown has aired 5,633 spots. The Ohio advertisements generally cast Brown as a liberal who supports Obama most of the time and backed measures that harmed business and suppressed jobs, such as the president’s health-care overhaul. The U.S. Chamber said yesterday it was starting its fifth “television blitz” in Ohio, including an ad that criticizes Brown’s votes on energy regulation and his “failed record on energy.” [Business Week]

Virginia Senate Race 2012: George Allen, Tim Kaine Talking Up Cooperation

And then there's Virginia, where the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS and other groups have pummeled Kaine since the early part of the year with some $10 million in negative ads. Crossroads launched three commercials last week that criticize the Democrat, including one that accuses him of "questionable judgment" for backing the same budget deal last August that President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans, including vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, supported.  [Huffington Post]

Rockefeller asks Fortune 500 CEOs to weigh in on cybersecurity debate

Rockefeller said he wanted to hear the chief executives' views "without the filter of Beltway lobbyists" and argued that a cybersecurity bill by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) was filibustered last month "largely due to opposition from a handful of business lobbying groups and trade associations, most notably the United States Chamber of Commerce." "I would be surprised to learn that many other American companies, most of which recognize that what is good for their bottom lines is also good for the country's national and economic security, are as intransigently opposed to our cybersecurity legislative efforts as the Chamber of Commerce has indicated they are," Rockefeller wrote…. "Yet for some reason I do not understand, the Chamber of Commerce and other business lobbying groups opposed our plan to create a voluntary program that would empower the private sector to collaborate with the federal government to develop dynamic and adaptable voluntary cybersecurity practices for companies to implement as they see fit," Rockefeller wrote. [The Hill]

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