Alex Isenstadt's blog

WASHINGTON - The National Republican Congressional Committee is leaping into New Hampshire's 1st Congressional District, where U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-Manchester) is trying to fight off a challenge from former U.S. Rep. Jeb Bradley. The committee has purchased $400,000 in the expensive Boston-New Hampshire media market.

The move comes at a time when the NRCC has reduced television advertising buys in districts across the country.

WASHINGTON – The National Republican Congressional Committee, faced with an increasingly difficult electoral map, is making a last-ditch effort to widen the playing field.

Today the cash-strapped committee contributed a little over $80,000 in coordinated funds to help Republican U.S. House candidate Jennifer Horn run a television advertisement targeting U.S. Rep. Paul Hodes (D-Concord).

"As a mom, I know it's hard to make end's meat," Horn says at the outset of the 30-second spot. "Families pay for Congress's bad economic decisions and Republicans and Democrats share blame. In Congress, Paul Hodes's committee oversees financial companies. But Paul Hodes took money from the mortgage and banking companies instead of working to avoid this crisis. And he voted to pave the way for the largest tax increase in history. We deserve better."

WASHINGTON - Anticipating a competitive race, national Democrats are ramping up their efforts to defend U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-Rochester).

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's independent expenditure arm has reserved more than $2 million in the expensive Boston-New Hampshire media market, a four-fold increase from its initial media buy, according to a source with knowledge of the reservation. All told, the committee plans to air seven weeks of ads targeting Shea-Porter's Republican opponent, former U.S. Rep. Jeb Bradley.

The DCCC began its offensive in the district in mid-September with a $490,000 advertising blitz aimed at Bradley's record in Congress.

WASHINGTON – The Young Guns, a House Republican-sponsored program offering support to GOP candidates around the county, have tapped Jeb Bradley as a new beneficiary.

Bradley, a former congressman, is fresh off a Sept. 9 primary victory over Republican John Stephen. He is preparing to face off against U.S. Rep. Carol Shea Porter (R-Rochester), in one of the most hotly contested House races in the country.

The Young Guns, which is headed up by U.S. Reps. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), and Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), aims to provide fundraising and institutional support to open seat and incumbent candidates.

Senate candidate Jeanne Shaheen: Campaign PhotoTwo organizations are hitting the Granite State airwaves with advertisements targeting Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jeanne Shaheen on the issue of spending.

“On the economy, Jeanne Shaheen’s positions just don’t add up,” an announcer says in a 30-second television advertisement launched by the conservative Club for Growth today.

“As governor, Shaheen enacted the first statewide property tax. Proposed the first ever sales tax. Said she would sign the first state income tax. But that’s not all. Shaheen opposed lawsuit reforms, making it harder for New Hampshire businesses to grow. Tell Jeanne Shaheen, we need lower taxes and lawsuit reform to help our economy.”

The ad is set to run for two weeks on broadcast and cable television stations throughout New Hampshire. The media buy totals $400,000.

WASHINGTON -- The primaries now completed, the National Republican Congressional Committee has begun the process of taking on U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-Rochester), issuing a memo tying the Democrat to Washington, D.C.

“Bradley will face sitting Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, who has spent her two short years in Congress establishing herself as wildly out of touch with the people of her district, much to their discontent,” the committee wrote.

“Shea-Porter has been a loyal foot soldier for the do-nothing Democrat leadership as they continue their assault on good government. Shea-Porter has assembled a laundry list of failures, including her refusal to support lower energy prices and American energy independence, delivering a payback to big labor by repeatedly voting against workers’ rights, and fiercely opposing Second Amendment rights.”

The environmental group Sierra Club is launching a radio advertisement Monday praising several freshmen congressional Democrats who are engaged in competitive re-election races this fall for what the organization says has been their aggressive stance against oil companies. Amongst those members the Sierra Club is defending is Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-Rochester).

The spot is likely to be seen as a direct counterpoint to Freedom's Watch, a conservative-leaning advocacy group which for the past several weeks has been hitting Democratic members on the issue of offshore drilling.

"All this week, you'll be hearing about the billions of dollars in record high profits the big oil companies are making," an announcer says in the 60-second spot entitled "Rolling in It." "They're raking it in while we're feeling the pain of four dollar a gallon gas. Let's face it -- big oil has our economy, our energy policies and our politics in a strangle-hold. But Congress still has a chance to break that hold, to pass legislation that provides price relief and helps hard working families instead of the oil industry.

"Call Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter... Thank her for standing up to the oil companies. Ask her to keep voting to end the billions in government giveaways to big oil, to crack down on the price gouging that's keeping gas prices so high, and to invest in renewable energy and give consumers more, cleaner energy choices."

Freedom’s Watch, the conservative advocacy organization, is launching about three dozen robocalls over the next week targeting U.S. House members across the country, including several vulnerable incumbents in New Hampshire, PolitickerNH.com has learned.

The target list for the robocalls includes New Hampshire Reps. Carol Shea-Porter and Paul Hodes among a host of other members of Congress.

The calls start off by reminding recipients of current gas prices and emphasizing how the prices affect the cost of food. The calls also stress the potential for domestic drilling and mention that the member in question has voted against oil exploration on the continental shelf.

After Freedom’s Watch launched in 2007 it initially focused its efforts on conveying a national security-focused message. But the new robocalls underscore how the organization is switching to a more economic-focused message.

WASHINGTON -- When Arizonans opened the pages of the Arizona Republic on Veterans Day in November, there was a good chance they saw a full page advertisement taking aim at Democratic U.S. Rep. Harry Mitchell for his vote in support of a bill that included a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. The advertisement featured a letter from injured Iraq veteran Andrew Robinson, pictured seated in a wheelchair.

Stephen fundraised.

Guinta wasn’t running.

The NRSC hit Shaheen.

WMUR had a temporary fill in for Spradling.

NH Dems had a choice.