Perfect ending: NYT reports that House Dems spent more on TV ads than GOP did

How could it be more perfect? They’ve spent the past month accusing the GOP in ways explicit and implicit of having bought the House via shadowy Rove-ian groups fueled by secret money from dirty, dirty foreigners. And meanwhile, in the most important advertising medium of all, they’ve actually outspent Republicans by almost $25 million. Even their painfully pathetic fifth-string GOTV pitch — Republican fatcats shelling out big money — is a fraud. Perfection.

Actually, I guess having Pelosi on the witness stand mumbling about a stolen container of strawberries would make it a little more perfect. But short of that — perfection.

The most recent numbers available, through Friday, showed that Democratic candidates and their allies spent $142 million on television advertising across all House races in the general election, compared with $119 million by Republican candidates and their backers. In the Senate, Republican candidates and their allies outspent Democrats, $159 million to $120 million…

The Democratic advantage on television spending in House races was something of a revelation, given all the attention that has been garnered this year by the staggering expenditures by Republican-oriented independent groups after a Supreme Court ruling in January that lifted restrictions on corporate political spending.

But it appears that the Republican-leaning groups were able to make a significant impact in many House races by leveling the playing field for underfinanced Republican challengers, who in previous elections might have had little chance against Democratic incumbents…

The overall Democratic spending advantage on television in the House holds true not only for all races, but also when just the 105 races that the group classifies as competitive are considered. Democrats have so far outspent Republicans on television in 68 of those 105 contests. In all House races, Republican-leaning outside groups spent $38 million on television, compared with $13 million by Democratic-oriented groups. But Democratic candidates outspent Republican ones, $97 million to $49 million. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee also outspent the national Republican Congressional Committee, $30 million to $26 million.

I’m really curious now to see what the excuse will be tomorrow night. Presumably it was going to be “outside money!” but the Times just went and knifed them in the back on that. What are they left with now? Pelosi’s not actually going to get up in front of the podium and talk about “messaging.” Is she?

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