An onslaught of negative television ads has been burning through television sets across the Tampa Bay area thanks to the CD13 race in Pinellas County, and it won't abate for two more weeks.
With over $6 millionhaving been spent so far in the race by so-called third-party groups, both David Jolly and Alex Sink complained during their debate at the Capitol Theater in Clearwater on Tuesday that those groups have been distorting their records. But both candidates appeared resigned to the fact that they couldn't do anything about it, since by law they cannot coordinate with those groups.
Of course they could have done something about it before the campaign, as was done in Massachusetts in 2012 when Scott Brown ran for re-election against Elizabeth Warren. They could have said they wouldn't accept third-party groups entering into the campaign market, but with so much on the line, neither ever did.
That's perhaps why Libertarian candidate Lucas Overby seemed to win the audience over toward the end of the debate with his comments regarding such ads. On his minuscule budget, Overby has not had the ability to air television ads, nor had any third-party group spend money on his behalf. When asked about the power of fact-checking, Overby said he was in the clear.
"I don’t think I’ve made any wrong statements about either of these two," Overby told moderator Susan McManus. "We haven’t had to make any corrections. Actually, I don’t talk about these guys ever," he said, looking at his two major party challengers.
Then McManus brought up the outside groups, which in this race include Karl Rove's American Crossroads, though the majority of ads have come from the two major parties' campaign committees, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the National Republican Campaign Committee, respectively.
"I wish the outside groups would stop running ads on my behalf," Overby said, eliciting huge laughs before turning serious. "I really wish the outside groups would stop running ads... we're sick to death of them." He then decried the fact that this was only the second debate of the truncated campaign, and said that Jolly and Sink, who have had to overcome charges that they're not "true" Pinellas County residents, have a lack of understanding of the community in CD13, who he maintains are united in their disdain for attack ads.
Jolly said, "We are sick and tired of all the vitriol and the rhetoric on both sides that creates so much noise that the voters don't get to know where we stand on the issues," without mentioning that over $3 million has been spent on his behalf by groups like the NRCC, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American Crossroads and the American Action Network.
The Republican went on to say that he actually "struggles" with the idea that in the U.S. third-party groups are allowed to participate in elections. "I'd like to see a way that the candidates are ultimately held more responsible. We understand there are outside groups on both sides that take a position and I don’t even understand all the rules with which how they deliver a message."
Alex Sink decried the 2010 Supreme Court Citizens United decision, particularly the fact that 501(c)4 groups are tax-exempt and do not have to list their donors. She then alluded to her recent call for campaign finance reform, and complained that, as in her 2010 race against Rick Scott for governor, she's been the recipient of misleading ads.
"I myself am enduring tremendous negative advertising [by] these independent authorities that are false and misleading..that have been pulled out of the Rick Scott mean machine playbook. And it’s distracting and it's inaccurate."