Ahead Of PA & NC GOP Primaries, Catch Up Quick On The Expensive, Nasty, And Trump-Fueled Attacks

Ahead of Tuesday’s GOP Senate primaries in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, catch up quick on the expensive, nasty, and Trump-fueled attacks that will ensure the GOP’s eventual nominees are badly bruised and out-of-step with general election voters.

See for yourself:

The PA and NC GOP primaries have been expensive: 

• PA – New York Times: “After months of a bruising television ad war between Dr. Mehmet Oz and David McCormick and their allies… The Club for Growth, the pro-business and anti-tax group, began booking television ads on Tuesday on behalf of Ms. Barnette worth $2 million.”

• PA – Philadelphia Inquirer: “McCormick and two super PACs funded by his wealthy allies have poured more than $35 million into the contest, while Oz and his supporters have spent more than $18 million. Each man put in at least $11 million of his own money.”

• NC – POLITICO: “The conservative Club for Growth announced it was spending $5 million to support Budd. Then $10 million. Then $15 million. The organization’s super PAC bought up ad time portraying McCrory as a ‘liberal faker,’ a line of attack the group has sustained for months as it sought to boost support for Budd. Other outside groups piled on with several more millions in spending against McCrory.”

• NC – ABC News: “In North Carolina, another Senate GOP primary slated for next week has attracted $18 million in outside GOP spending, split among Trump-backed candidate Ted Budd and his rivals.”

Trump has escalated infighting and forced candidates to go “full MAGA”:

• PA – The Philadelphia Inquirer: Trump’s smackdown of David McCormick shows the risks for Republicans trying a MAGA makeover. “McCormick has spent four months and at least $11 million of his own money advertising himself as an “America First” conservative. He aggressively sought Trump’s endorsement, courting the former president’s allies and hiring Trump aides to vaguely defined positions. Trump didn’t buy it.”

• PA – Washington Examiner: ‘Totally controlled’: Trump rips McCormick while lauding Dr. Oz in Pennsylvania rally. “Trump also ripped McCormick’s connections to China. ‘I do know that he was with a company that managed money for Communist China. And he is absolutely the candidate of special interests and globalists and the Washington establishment,’ he said.”

• NC – Fox News: Anchor: “Your opponent there has got the endorsement of Donald Trump, how much does that matter?” McCrory: “It helped his name-ID because Ted Budd had done nothing during his 6 years in the U.S. Congress – no one knew him, he had no record of accomplishment.”

• NC – WXII 12: “[Walker] said Trump got bad information from his Chief of Staff Mark Meadows when he endorsed Budd.”

Nasty GOP attacks will leave their eventual nominees in PA & NC badly bruised:

• PA – Washington Post: Many GOP candidates are bashing each other for ties to China. “In Pennsylvania, Mehmet Oz has repeatedly slashed his foe David McCormick for conducting business deals with China as hedge fund CEO, while McCormick and his allies have attacked Oz for making money off Chinese state TV and using Chinese products for his companies.”

• PA – Wall Street Journal: It’s ‘Hollywood Liberal’ vs. ‘Wall Street Insider’ in Pennsylvania Negative-Ad Fight. “Dr. Oz and former hedge-fund CEO David McCormick spend millions to tarnish each other in a key Senate GOP primary.”

• PA – Philadelphia Inquirer: The ‘knives are coming out’ for Kathy Barnette as Republicans, and Trump, scramble to stop her. “Pennsylvania’s Republican Senate primary is in chaos.”

• NC – The Charlotte Observer:  ‘Election being bought’: Budd’s outside support consolidates GOP Senate candidate criticism. “Republican candidates for U.S. Senate have converged in condemning spending by a political action committee that’s working to get Budd the nomination.”

• NC – Associated Press: “The final scheduled debate for North Carolina’s Republican Senate primary featured former Gov. Pat McCrory and ex-U.S. Rep. Mark Walker largely… criticizing rival Rep. Ted Budd for his absence from another television forum.”

• NC – The Hill: GOP scrambles to unify in divisive North Carolina Senate primary. “In the first television ad of his Senate campaign, McCrory sought to cast Budd as sympathetic toward Russian President Vladimir Putin.”

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