DCCC Sneak Attack in Florida's 2nd

By Scott Bland and Julie Sobel  //  October 5, 2012 | 10:46 a.m.

Rep. Steve Southerland's, R-Fla., Panhandle 2nd District has suddenly evolved into a battleground district over the last few weeks, and a poll released today by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee indicates why.

The survey, which the DCCC released Friday but conducted in mid-September, shows Southerland in a tied race with Democratic challenger Al Lawson, the former state Senate Minority Leader. Both candidates have 43 percent support in the Lester and Associates survey. The poll shows Mitt Romney leading President Obama 47 percent to 46 percent in the district, which gave Arizona Sen. John McCain a 52-45 victory over Obama in 2008. The poll was conducted Sept. 15-17 and surveyed 401 likely voters, for a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4.9 percentage points.

About a week after conducting the poll, the DCCC went on the air with an independent expenditure TV ad, which the committee never announced in a release. Lawson has been on TV with positive spots since mid-September, and the DCCC supplemented them with an attack using Southerland's vote on the Ryan budget. Southerland just released his first TV ad this week.

"Remember when a guarantee meant something?" the narrator in the DCCC TV ad intones. "Steve Southerland voted for a plan that ends Medicare's guarantee and makes seniors negotiate with insurance companies." The spot ends bluntly: "If you don't want Medicare to change, it's time to change your congressman."

The committee followed up with another ad Thursday, hitting on the same theme. "April 15th, 2011. Steve Southerland voted to cut Medicare," says the ad's narrator. "But there's more. Under Southerland's plan, seniors would have to negotiate directly with insurance companies." Roll Call reported Wednesday that the National Republican Congressional Committee reserved time on the district's airwaves for the next two weeks starting today.

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