Hotline Reports...NRSC goes after Stabenow

October 31, 2006

Is The Best Defense...

A good offense? The NRSC has bought at least $800,000 of TV ad time in MI SEN targeting Dem Sen. Debbie Stabenow. This is one day after the NRSC put in $500K in MD SEN and two days since they tossed another $300K+ in MT SEN. As for the MI SEN buy, sources tell me the buy could be as high as a $1M.

The decision to try and play a little offense in this time when Republicans are defending the lion's share of competitive Senate seats is an interesting gambit. Stabenow has been polling just over 50% in most October polling, but the sour atmosphere in Michigan has Republicans believing if voters want to dump incumbents, it might help Republican Mike Bouchard. It's a long shot, but a $1M in MI SEN might do more damage to Stabenow and Democrats as a whole than spreading out that extra $1M in MO, TN and VA [CHUCK TODD]