The National Republican Congressional Committee may not be a fan of the way the shocking web ad targeting Democratic candidate Janice Hahn delivers its message in the CA-36 special election, but they’ve made it clear they approve of the attack behind the startling imagery.
Now they’ve put their money where their mouth is, launching an internet campaign that sells a toned-down version of the viral web video that had even Republican candidate Craig Huey’s campaign crying foul.
It’s an interesting move for the Congressional elections arm of the Republican party to make — CA-36 is a race Democrats are expected to win easily. But the NRCC’s decision to launch a negative web blitz against Hahn suggests they think there could be a chance for a GOP upset in the seat held by Rep. Jane Harman (D) until she resigned earlier this year.
Huey’s campaign says early absentee voting numbers also suggest an upset is possible. Team Hahn dismisses that idea out of hand, and says they’re happy with the way things look.
Neither national party seems too invested with about three weeks to go until the July election date. The NRCC did not respond to a request for comment, but Huey campaign manager Dave Camp told TPM that he thinks the NRCC is still waiting to see how close it gets before spending any serious money.
Likewise, Hahn manager Dave Jacobson says the DCCC isn’t pumping any money into their campaign, either.
“We’ll see what happens in the next several weeks,” he told TPM.
For now, there’s the battle being waged over Hahn’s time on the Los Angeles Council and her support of gang prevention programs. Specifically, Republicans have latched onto a 2008 report by a local Fox station “which accused Hahn of funneling money to active gang members under the auspices of the city’s gang-intervention programs,” in the words of LA Weekly‘s Gene Maddaus, who is just one of several reporters to thoroughly debunk the report. Another is Politifact.
Nevertheless, the specter of a Democratic politician making the streets even a little safer for gang members is just too juicy for the Republicans to pass up. The Fox report was the basis of the shocking web ad, and it’s also the basis of the NRCC’s new attack website, HahnGotMeOut.com.
The committee let voters know about it through a text message sent out this week. Here’s what that looked like: “Councilwoman Janice Hahn helped steer tax $ to violent, inner-city gang members.”
Camp says the issue is a good one for the GOP, though he said Huey’s focusing on jobs and the economy.
“I would expect voters are concerned,” Camp said. “Spending taxpayer dollars on these gang intervention programs — I don’t think that’s very popular with people.”
Meanwhile, Camp says the earliest returns show Huey doing surprisingly well. Of the 16,405 absentee ballots returned so far, 7,102 were from Democrats and 6,426 were from Republicans. Camp calls that a tight margin in a district where Democrats have an 18% registration advantage.
In a low turnout race — Camp predicts just about 15% will turn out to vote next month — a margin like that could give Huey room for the surprise win, Camp said.
Jacobson would have none of it. He pointed out that Democrats are ahead in the total number of returned ballots and they’re way ahead in the total number of absentee ballots requested. Of the 84,971 district voters who asked for absentee ballots, 36,082 are registered Democrats and 28,951 are Republicans.
“In both fronts, Democrats have a significant lead,” Jacobson said. “So i feel confident with those numbers.”
