The Democratic Party is interested in maintaining its control of the US Senate, and to that end, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has made an eight-figure buy of TV time in three key states.
According to various reports, the DSCC has $14.1M of time on hold for the fall when the general elections heat up.
Other Capitol Hill-based political committees have also been getting their order for time in well in advance of election time, out of concern that the Citizens United ruling is going to unleash a flood of spending from PACs not directly affiliated with candidates, making availabilities scarce.
The bulk of the cash is being spent in Virginia, where a pair of former governors are expected to face off – Tim Kaine for the Democrats and George Allen for the Republicans. Allen is trying to regain the seat he lost by a whisker to Jim Webb six years ago. Webb decided to retire rather than pursue a second term.
The Virginia reservation amounts to $7.4M.
The other states are Missouri, where DSCC is reserving $3.5M worth of air time in defense of incumbent Claire McCaskill; and Montana, where $3.2M has been plunked down in defense of Jon Testor.
According to TalkingPointsMemo, the DSCC’s opposite number, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, has already reserved $25M worth of advertising time in six states.
