UPDATE, ESCALATION: Republican National Committee Hires 2nd Firm To Knock On #AZ08 Doors

UPDATE, 4/2, 5:15pm: The national GOP organizations continue to pour money into keeping #AZ08 in Republican hands. The Congressional Leadership Fund SuperPAC has now put in slightly more than the $100,000 that it had indicated (to Politico) was budgeted. $65,000 was disclosed today for an ad(s), after spending $37,350 on phone calling*. In addition, the Republican National Committee has added phone banking to its spend. Only $2,470 for phones, so far, bringing its total to $323,651. Thus, the total outside spending favoring the GOP's Debbie Lesko is now just shy of $600,000, with three weeks until election day.

* The phone calls are listed as being both for Lesko and against Democratic opponent Hiral Tipirneni, which indicates that there is an attack component to the script.

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The Republican National Committee upped its stake in Arizona's Special Election to replace resigned Rep. Trent Franks, hiring a 2nd company to knock on West Valley doors and put out a mailer.  The $40,000 is in addition to the $281,000 to hire an out of state firm to knock on #AZ08 doors in support of Debbie Lesko.

As noted earlier in the week, other national Republican groups are throwing in to make sure the normally-safe Republican district does not fall into Democratic hands on April 24. The NRCC is working with the Lesko campaign to air $171,590 worth of ads, and the GOP-philic Congressional Leadership Fund has indicated plans to spend $100,000 on the race. (Total = approx. $593,000)

Lesko on left, Tipirneni on right

The new filing indicates that Arena Communications (Utah-based) has received $12,124 for door-to-door efforts, and $27,808 for a mailer(s).

Lesko's Democratic opponent, Hiral Tipirneni, has raised more money than Lesko (through Feb. 7), and has not (yet) received support from the national Democratic organizations. Election day is April 24.

   RNC IE for Lesko - #AZ08 by arizonaspolitics on Scribd

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