At The Washington Post, Rachel Weiner and Chris Cillizza report:
American Crossroads, a conservative-aligned outside group, is launching television ads this week in the special election for New York’s 26th district, the latest sign that the race has tightened considerably.
American Crossroads will spent roughly $350,000 this week on broadcast and cable in the Buffalo and Rochester media markets. A second week of ads is already planned with Democratic ad buyers estimating the total Crossroads expenditure to be in the neighborhood of $650,000.
While the ad itself is not yet available, Crossroads spokesman Jonathan Collegio said that “this race has become artificially close because liberal Democrat Jack Davis is now trying to pass himself off as a conservative while the other liberal Democrat, Katie Hochul, is benefiting from his trick.” Added Collegio: “This ad buy seeks to expose the Democrat trick for what it is.”
The race for former Rep. Chris Le e’s (R) Upstate seat was not expected to be close. Arizona Sen. John McCain (R) carried the district by six points in 2008 and national Democratic strategists initially downplayed its competitiveness.
The group later made the ad available:
