FOLLOWING MONEY IN ARIZONA'S POLITICS: The (Washington) "Nationals" Still Slugging It Out In Mitchell vs. Schweikert race. Or, ARE they?

As we get closer to November, the independent expenditures on behalf of or against Congressional candidates will continue to increase. Arizona's Politics will check in regularly on the reports that these groups must submit to the Federal Election Commission. Here are the details for this week's filings.


The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ("DCCC") filed their notice with the Federal Election Commission ("FEC") that it had spent $56,715.34 opposing Republican challenger David Schweikert in CD5.  Approximately $10,000 for production of the ad(s), $10 for a website registration, and the rest for air time.  No other Arizona district was mentioned, and here is a rundown of other races around the country that the DCCC put down some money this week.

Interestingly, on this past Monday, a Republican blogger working hard for Schweikert announced that the National Republican Congressional Committee "NRCC" was about to launch a couple of ads against Mitchell within "a couple of days." This blogger has also repeatedly stated that the DCCC has given up on the race.

The claim about the impending assault on Mitchell was interesting for a number of reasons.  (For one, if the Schweikert lead is as imposing as claimed and Mitchell supporters have given up, how do you explain the blazing barrels of the NRCC?)  Earlier this week, we noted that the National Republican Congressional Committee "NRCC" had filed that it had spent $83,000 on ads in the CD1 race against Democratic incumbent Ann Kirkpatrick.  The mandated FEC reports are notices that money has already been spent, not future plans; the notice is required within 48 hours of spending the funds.

The NRCC has apparently not filed ANY reports of expenditures in the Mitchell/Schweikert battle - going back to the August 24 primary. (Here is page with links to their reports.)

Maybe Arizona's Politics is missing something here.  Maybe the NRCC has delayed their expenditures, or maybe the ad was created for free and will only air on their YouTube channel.  Maybe the blogger was blowing smoke or mistook the NRCC for the DCCC.  Maybe we will never know for sure. 










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