NRCC Releasing Early Ads

UPDATED 9:45 A.M.

The NRCC will launch a tiny round of new television ads against three Dems this week in an early indication of the argument the GOP will make while criticizing the health care bill.

The ads, targeting Reps. Earl Pomeroy (D-ND), Vic Snyder (D-AR) and John Spratt (D-SC), will cite another Dem -- conservative Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK) -- who opposed the health care bill.

"The worst thing we could do during a recession is raise taxes, and this bill does just that," Boren said in his statement explaining his opposition to the bill. The NRCC included Boren's words in their spot hitting Pomeroy.

The NRCC's ads are notable for two reasons: First, the GOP is previewing the thrust it will make against Dems on the health care bill, citing taxes and the Dems who acknowledged them on the floor. By running the ads now, when the debate is still raging, the GOP takes advantage of a skeptical public that may have moved on to other issues once the bill lands on Pres. Obama's desk.

Second, all three members are entrenched incumbents. Snyder is the newest member; he will run for an 8th term in '10. Pomeroy will run for a 9th term, and if Spratt is re-elected, he will serve his 15th term. NRCC chair Pete Sessions has made noise about going places GOPers hadn't bothered to contest lately, and he is putting his money where his mouth is early in the cycle.

The ads will run for a week. Ken Spain, the NRCC's communications director, declined to discuss how big the advertising buy is. But a Dem source says the buy is just $6,300 -- 35 gross rating points (GRPs) in Charlotte, 55 GRPs in Little Rock and 50 GRPs in Minot, ND. The ads are only running on Fox News.

The DCCC and the NRCC routinely monitor each other's ad buys. Such a small investment can be used to earn media; local papers cover the ads, which can be more valuable than the ads themselves. Purchasing 2,000 GRPs is saturation-level, meaning half the daily audience watching Fox News in Pomeroy's district, for example, will see the NRCC's advertisement once.

Spain disputed the exact numbers but still would not discuss the exact size of the buy.

"Given the NRCC's embarrassing defeat in NY-23 where they spent nearly a million dollars on a candidate that ultimately dropped out, this wouldn't be the first or the last time the NRCC flushed its money down the toilet," DCCC spokesman Ryan Rudominer said.

(REID WILSON)