Behind the Ad: Cleveland vs. Cleveland? Really?

By Richard K. Barry

Who: Mississippi Conservatives PAC (a pro-Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss) group)

Where: Mississippi

What's going on: As I said last week, Cochran is seen by many as the most vulnerable Republican
incumbent facing a primary challenge. State Sen. Chris McDaniel has received the support of every national conservative group expressing an opinion on the matter. He is running to the right of Cochran with the argument that Cochran is a Washington insider who deserves to be defeated.

Cochrane has been trumpeting his conservative bona fides in response. It's already silly season in Mississippi.

Now a pro-Cochran PAC has launched an ad charging that McDaniel has "taken both sides" on some key issues.  The ad charges that he has "both been in favor of and against tort reform, for and against Common Core educational standards and “on both sides” on earmarks."

We'll be following closely some of these GOP primaries in which the issue of what it means to be a real conservative are front and centre. Not a hell of a lot of light between both sides as far as I can see. 

Noel Fritsch, a McDaniel's team spokesman, pushed back against the ad saying this:

Sen. Cochran and his lobbyist friends will say anything to try to distract voters from Sen. Cochran’s record of voting for bailouts, debt ceiling increases, tax increases and taxpayer-funded abortion...The truth is, Sen. Cochran has been one of the biggest proponents of wasteful government spending while state Sen. Chris McDaniel has been a conservative leader in Mississippi. No wonder Sen. Cochran’s campaign is so afraid."

I'm not in a postion to unpack all of Fritsch's claims about Cochran's record, but it's a pretty nasty hit list if you're a Republican.

Grade: The ad attacking McDaniel is pretty standard fare. If McDaniel is going to claim purity, Cochran is going to push back. Okay. I like the point that McDaniel didn't want to support funding for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, but voted to give ten times more to the Grammy museum in Cleveland, Mississippi. Well, that's confusing. Anyway, the ad is nothing special, but makes a point. C