GOP Targets Black Friday Shoppers in States With Critical 2014 Senate Races
Attention shoppers: You may be getting more than a deal when you go bargain hunting on Black Friday.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee is launching an online and grassroots ad campaign today targeting shoppers in states with critical 2014 Senate elections.
Customers out looking for deals may have more than just a leaflet featuring a discount television set on their windshield. Republican volunteers will be putting flyers on cars outside of shopping centers slamming Democratic candidates on the Affordable Care Act.
The flyer ads, as well as an online ad campaign targeting Internet shoppers, will attack Democratic incumbent senators running for re-election in Louisiana and Alaska, and Democratic candidates running for open Senate seats in Michigan, Iowa and Georgia.
ABC News was given an exclusive sneak peak of the ad campaign and the NRSC says the effort is "designed to stave off efforts by these Democrats to distance themselves from the unpopular law."
One of the flyers targeting Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, looks like a discount ad with the text "Black Friday Sell Out!!!" at the top with a picture of Begich next to the words "Mark Begich's Obamacare." On the reverse the ad reads in red and white, "Mark Begich Misled Alaskans" and in candy cane print "Alaskans Deserve a Refund."
One of the online ads goes after Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, who is running for the open Senate seat in his state. It features text that reads "Black Friday Sell Out!!! Bruce Braley misled Iowans about Obamacare" next to a photo of Braley. The online ads, which will also run on Facebook and other social media sites, will take shoppers to an NRSC page to demand a "refund."
The NRSC would not comment on how much money they are putting into the effort, but describe it as a "significant five figure" buy "targeting specific audiences on popular shopping and social media sites."
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee had not seen the ad, but responded to an attack on the Affordable Care Act by saying, "Every single Republican Senate candidate wants to go back to letting insurance companies discriminate against pre-existing conditions, charge women more for care, and kick people off their coverage when they get sick."
"That position may poll well among insurance company executives and the tea party but not the vast majority of voters," Deputy Executive Director Matt Canter said in a statement.