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Daily Ad Track

Bolt down that kitchen sink.

This week marks the point where campaigns begin to unleash their devastating ads — the ones they have planned to use all along if necessary but have held back for timing. On Tuesday, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) and others went there with a series of ads featuring survivors of sexual assault criticizing Rep. Todd Akin (R). It turns out, it was only the beginning.

Here are the newest ads in this vein to cut through the clutter.

Arizona Senate

There is no doubt momentum has been with former Surgeon General Richard Carmona (D) in his Senate bid against Rep. Jeff Flake (R). But all along, Arizona Republicans insisted that a negative barrage was coming Carmona’s way and that there was plenty in his record that could come into play. The negative ads against Carmona began a few weeks ago, but this new one from the Flake campaign is simple and brutal. This is part of a major statewide broadcast, cable and radio buy.

Rhode Island 1

This is not a television ad, but the National Republican Congressional Committee has sponsored a robocall that absolutely unleashes on Rep. David Cicilline (D). Cicilline is in a tough re-election campaign against former State Police Colonel Brendan Doherty (R). Politico first reported the news of the robocall. This is the script:

“Before taking the city of Providence to the brink of bankruptcy and deceiving voters about the city’s finances just to get himself elected, David Cicilline got rich trying to keep the most violent of criminals out of jail. The details of the crimes his clients were in jail for are too graphic to be appropriate for this phone call. It won’t matter if you are a Republican or a Democrat…you will be disgusted by his actions and know that he’s wrong for Rhode Island. To learn more who David Cicilline fights for, please visit: www.CicillineSecrets.com.”

Massachusetts 6 

Republicans played their trump card ad against Rep. John Tierney (D) about a week ago, and this morning he went up with what is probably the best response ad one can make under these sorts of circumstances: look directly into the camera and try to level with voters and viewers. It is a $300,000-$400,000 buy in the Boston market. Tierney’s challenger is former state Sen. Richard Tisei (R).

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