The latest targets of a pricey campaign ad buy by Americans for Prosperity are Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu and Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor, both seen as among the Senate's most vulnerable 2014 incumbents.
AFP has spent $940,000 on digital and television ad buys in Louisiana and $920,000 in Arkansas as it digs deep to help Republicans take control of the U.S. Senate in crucial midterm races, reports the
National Journal, which got a first look at the campaign ads — one of the largest buys by a third-party group during the 2014 midterm cycle.
The conservative organization attacks Landrieu, who has campaigned on her political "clout," for her ineffectiveness in energy policy and what they describe as her failure over the Veterans Affairs scandal, which they argue she did not handle in advance of the disastrous Obamacare rollout, the
New Orleans Times-Picayune reported. It cited the
ad's central message: "How can the Affordable Care Act work for the entire United States when the government can't provide quality healthcare to 8 million veterans?"
Her campaign snapped back at the AFP's ad buy. "What we've seen today is a despicable new low on behalf of the shady group Americans for Prosperity, but unfortunately these kind of misleading attacks have become par for the course from the Koch brothers," campaign manager Adam Sullivan told the Times-Picayune.
"Sen. Landrieu has always been an advocate for the oil and gas industry and has done everything possible to support our veterans and military families," he said. "She's been a leader in opposing the Obama administration's new EPA regulations announced last month and was one of the first Democrats in Congress to call for Secretary Shinseki's resignation after the problems at the VA were brought to light earlier this year."
Pryor is called out for his support of President Barack Obama in the AFP campaign.
"Mark Pryor has lost touch with the people who are suffering because of the big government policies he supports in Washington," said Phoebe Pierpoint, Arkansas deputy state director of Americans for Prosperity in a statement on her group's website.
"We hope our new television ad reminds him that supporting ObamaCare, the EPA’s new regulations, increasing spending, and otherwise voting with President Obama 90 percent of the time has real consequences for his constituents."
Pryor is facing U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton, an Army veteran and attorney, in his Senate race. Landrieu is in a tight re-election bid against Republican
U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy, a physician.