Hotline Sort: DCCC's Apology To Adelson

By Julie Sobel  //  August 3, 2012 | 8:27 a.m.

Welcome back to Hotline Sort. Scott Brown highlights more Democratic support in a new television ad, the DCCC apologizes to Sheldon Adelson, no big surprises in the Tennessee House primaries, and Rick Perry says he's cool as long as he isn't VP.

10) Department of silver linings for the Green Party: Their presidential nominee Jill Stein and her running mate have been released from jail. They were arrested at a bank sit-in, the Associated Press reports.

9) President Obama weighs in on Penn State: In an interview with WBNS Radio in Columbus, Ohio, that aired Thursday, the president was asked if the NCAA punishment fits the crime. "I think it does," he said.

"Joe Paterno was a great football coach. But there are some things that are just more important than sports. Making sure our kids are safe is more important than sports," said Obama, per the Wall Street Journal.

8) Texas GOP Gov. Rick Perry weighs in on Mitt Romney's VP pick: "As long as it's not me, I'll be cool."

7) The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee issued an apology to casino mogul Sheldon Adelson. "In press statements issued on June 29 and July 2, 2012, the DCCC made unsubstantiated allegations that attacked Sheldon Adelson, a supporter of the opposing party," the DCCC said in a statement. "This was wrong. The statements were untrue and unfair and we retract them."

The DCCC had sent out an AP article in which a former employee said Adelson was aware of prostitution at the casino's Macau location. Adelson threatened to take legal action against the DCCC.

The Washington Post:

Thursday's retraction is a public relations victory for Adelson, who along with the billionaire Koch brothers -- also conservatives -- have been strongly criticized by Democrats for their immense financial influence on electoral politics this cycle.

6) The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports Sen. Bob Casey is going up with the first television ad of his reelection campaign. His GOP opponent, Tom Smith, is already up on the air. Polls show Casey with a double-digit lead in his reelection race. 5) Former Democratic Rep. Ed Case is out with his first negative ad of the Hawaii Senate race, hitting his primary opponent Rep. Mazie Hirono (the two face off in an August 11 primary) on having "few accomplishments in 28 years" in politics, and being "part of the problem" in Washington. The ad also points out that Hirono lost "big time" to former GOP Gov. Linda Lingle before. Case has been consistently trying to make an electability argument. 4) Wisconsin state Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald will launch his first television ad of the GOP Senate primary on Monday, making him the last candidate to go on air, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. The ad focuses on his role in the state's budget battles last year. 3) Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., is releasing a new television ad today, again touting Democratic support: This time from former Worcester Mayor Konnie Lukes. "I am impressed by Scott Brown's independence," says Lukes. "He cuts through all those party alignments." Brown's previous ad focused on support from former Democratic Boston Mayor Ray Flynn. 2) Incumbents prevailed in last night's Tennessee primaries: GOP Reps. Chuck Fleischmann and Diane Black both won comfortably, though Fleischmann finished with well under 50 percent of the vote, making a serious 2014 primary challenge possible. See Scott Bland's results wrap-up here. 1) Romney and the outside groups supporting him will spend twice as much money as Obama's campaign on television ads this week, Reid Wilson writes -- but team Obama is already spending heavily on fall ads. From the story:

But Obama's team has already purchased $64 million in advertisements that will run between Sept. 1 and Election Day. The president's campaign has locked in $5.2 million in television space during the four weeks after Labor Day, and a much higher $7.4 million per week during the month of October. The early spending is going to grow as the campaign winds to a close, but buying early allows the campaign to purchase advertisements at lower rates than will be available late in the game. American Crossroads, the super PAC arm of the mega-donor organization, has also purchased millions in late advertising, although Romney's campaign has not yet.


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Reid Wilson, Editor-in-Chief
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Julie Sobel, Editor
Kevin Brennan, Deputy Editor


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