Tuesday, November 24, 2015

WATCH: Beyond #DumpTrump, American Encore Goes After Ted Cruz In New Iowa Ad (We Got It Wrong)

The new American Encore TV ad airing in Iowa today goes after GOP Presidential candidate Ted Cruz, accusing him of joining Obama in "leading from behind".

The ad filings, coupled with AE's President Sean Noble's #DumpTrump columns, made it appear that the dark money mega-Super PAC that was once at the center of the Koch brothers' political money network was boosting the Texas Senator.  American Encore had not (has not) answered Arizona's Politics email for more information. Arizona's Politics made what appeared to be a solid inference and published the article.

It turns out that American Encore is hammering Cruz hard - in the Republican primary, it does not get harder than comparing someone to Barack Obama.

The USA Freedom Act was passed by both Houses and signed by the President on June 2.  Cruz was one of 23 Republican Senators to vote for it, as it passed 67-32. The Republican House passed it 338-88. Here is Arizona's Politics' article on the Senate vote.

The electioneering communication ad urges Iowa voters to call the Texas Senator (wink, wink) and urge him to vote for a new post-Paris bill that would delay implementation of the portion of the law dealing with collecting metadata.

Here is a campaign ad-like video that Cruz posted after the measure was signed into law.


In going after Cruz, American Encore seems to be looking further down the field and going beyond #DumpTrump. Noble recently co-hosted a fundraiser for contender Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL).

The ad is running on Iowa TV through this holiday weekend.  Reports filed with the FCC indicate that the ad buy is at least $69,000, and Noble told Politico that it was $200,000.  American Encore does not disclose its donors, and was previously a main cog in the political money machine funded by the libertarian-conservative Koch brothers.

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