Pro-Lamb Super PAC Misfires in Attack Ad Against Fetterman
A super PAC supporting Rep. Conor Lamb for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania made two misleading claims about the Democratic front-runner, John Fetterman, one of which resulted in a Philadelphia TV station pulling the ad.
Fetterman, who serves as lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania, holds a double-digit lead over Lamb and state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, according to a recent poll from The Hill and Emerson College. Although Pennsylvania’s TV airwaves have been filled with ads from Republican candidates Mehmet Oz and Dave McCormick attacking each other, the discourse on the air had been more civilized on the Democratic side. Until now.
The ad from Penn Progress, a super PAC supporting Lamb that has been promoted by veteran Democratic strategist James Carville, tries to paint Fetterman as a socialist who is too big of a risk for Democrats in a general election. Lamb has tried to draw a distinction with Fetterman by marketing himself as a moderate Democrat. Lamb says he wants to “protect and strengthen” the Affordable Care Act. He is a critic of so-called “defunding police.” And he held a fundraiser with moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
Fetterman has been critical of Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema for blocking some of President Joe Biden’s agenda. He is an advocate of legalization of marijuana, a $15 minimum wage, addressing climate change and criminal justice reform. Fetterman describes health care as a “fundamental human right,” and he has supported Medicare for All.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/pro-lamb-super-pac-misfires-in-attack-ad-against-fetterman/ar-AAVW5GK
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by Julia Terruso
Updated Apr 7, 2022
A super PAC backing U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb’s Democratic campaign for Senate in Pennsylvania made its first real foray into the race this week — and it didn’t go well. The group, Penn Progress, launched an attack ad that wrongly called Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic front-runner, a “self-described democratic socialist,” drawing ire from national Democrats and rebukes from fact-checkers.
Within a day of the ad airing, PolitiFact and Factcheck.org called it false, a Philadelphia TV station took it off the air, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) called on Lamb to disavow it. Perhaps most alarming for Lamb, the campaign arm for Senate Democrats, which was already seen as likely to stay on the sidelines in the primary, signaled it won’t get involved in a race where Lamb badly needs to change the dynamic.
Taken together, the developments underscored how the window for Lamb, underfunded and behind in the polls, is closing fast ahead of the May 17 primary. “The hope is that the ad sparks positive publicity … but by being sloppy in how they made the ad, Lamb’s super PAC shot itself in the foot,” said J.J. Balaban, a Philadelphia-based Democratic strategist. The 30-second spot aims to paint Fetterman as a socialist who would be a risky candidate for Democrats in the general election.
The PAC behind it, led by veteran Democratic strategists including James Carville, is trying to raise big money to help Lamb bridge yawning deficits in fund-raising and campaign surveys. The group has put $800,000 behind airing the ad so far in the Philadelphia, Wilkes-Barre, and Pittsburgh media markets, according to AdImpact, which tracks political advertising. And the ad made a big splash — just likely not in the way the group intended.
https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/conor-lamb-super-pac-ad-john-fetterman-20220407.html
Well looks like stuff has started to "get real" here.
STILL waiting for the State Supreme Court to rule on the mail-in voting because we still haven't gotten our ballots yet.
