This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, March 29, 2012 - VoteVets.org, a progressive veterans group, has a launched a TV ad campaign in St. Louis and Kansas City on behalf of U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.
The ad is the first independent spot to air in support of McCaskill, who is seeking re-election this fall and has been pummeled for months with various independent attack ads, coming from such groups as Crossroads GPS and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Such independent groups do not face the donation restrictions imposed on candidates, and often do not have to disclosure their donors. Their spending does not count as a campaign donation as long as the activity is not coordinated with the candidate.
The VoteVets ad lauds McCaskill as one who's "got our back." The spot also fits in with one of McCaskill’s key issues, as a senator and in her campaign. McCaskill sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee and has be an outspoken advocate on veterans issues. Among other things, she has been active in the improvements and changes mandated for the Cochran VA Medical Center in St. Louis.
Last Sunday, she held a forum in St. Louis with various area veterans’ groups.
UPDATE: The Missouri Republican Party has verbally fired back, by noting that McCaskill has criticized campaign spending by outside groups -- and her first campaign TV spot focused on that topic. The state GOP asserted that the senator would be guilty of "hypocrisy" unless she condemns the VoteVets' spot.
"For years, Claire McCaskill has feigned outrage over political spending by outside interest groups that she accuses of trying to "buy your government"—but now that she is benefiting from an outside interest group funded by radical environmentalists, she is strangely silent," the state GOP said in a statement.
"To make matters worse for McCaskill, the nonpartisan OpenSecrets.org has investigated VoteVets and unmasked the interest groups behind it. As it turns out, VoteVets has raked in millions of dollars from radical environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection."
