Begich Pulls Controversial Campaign Ad Featuring Murder Case

FILE - This March 3, 2014 file photo shows Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, as he speaks to reporters after a joint session of the Alaska Legislature in Juneau, Alaska. The top prize of the November midterm elections is c... FILE - This March 3, 2014 file photo shows Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, as he speaks to reporters after a joint session of the Alaska Legislature in Juneau, Alaska. The top prize of the November midterm elections is control of the Senate for the final two years of President Barack Obama’s administration, with Republicans needing to pick up six more seats to take over. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer, File) MORE LESS
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Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) has pulled a campaign TV ad that connected his GOP opponent with a prominent murder case, amid furor from Republicans, KTVA in Anchorage reported Tuesday.

The Anchorage Daily News reported last week on the ad and the resulting backlash from Republican nominee Dan Sullivan and his supporters. The ad, which appears to have disappeared online, linked Sullivan, formerly Alaska’s attorney general, with the light sentence given to a sex offender, who was later charged with murdering an elderly couple and sexually assaulting their young granddaughter after his release, according to the newspaper.

Sullivan released a response ad and a timeline of the issue, which the Daily News reported showed that the events that led to the accused killer’s release occurred before Sullivan became attorney general in 2009.

According to KTVA, a lawyer for the victims’ family had asked both campaigns to pull the ads. Sullivan’s campaign will also drop its response ad.

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Notable Replies

  1. Ouch! Bad research by Begich’s team.

  2. Yes, I distinctly remember the Reich Ring outrage over Bush’s Willie Horton ad. They were up in arms screaming for Bush to take it off the air.

    Oh, uh, nevermind.

  3. If the tables were reversed, would the Republicans have pulled the ad? Or would they have doubled down and played it up?

  4. Avatar for cpinva cpinva says:

    yeah, you should at least get basic facts right. and yes, were this a republican ad, they’d double-down, claiming begich would have done this, had he been in office at the time. so, reasons!

  5. Why isn’t TPM reporting on how the Democratic Party has joined with the Independent candidate for Governor of Alaska to form a Unity Ticket to defeat the Republicans?

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