This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Dec. 18, 2009 - Next week, the national League of Conservation Voters plans to end its long-running statewide ad campaign that has sharply criticized U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Springfield and a candidate for the U.S. Senate.
The League says it has spent more than $500,000 this year to attack Blunt's record on energy issues. Its latest ad blitz began a month ago in southwest Missouri, and then expanded to the St. Louis area and other parts of the state.
But the state GOP calculates that the league's anti-Blunt spending in 2009 has been closer to $900,000, including ads on broadcast and cable TV, and on radio.
In any case, some in both major parties -- Democrats publicly and Republicans privately -- say the ads have been effective. They point to the latest independent poll by Rasmussen, generally seen as a GOP-leaning firm, that shows Blunt neck and neck with the only announced Democratic candidate for the Senate seat, Secretary of State Robin Carnahan.
Considering the hammering that Democrats are taking nationally, the tightness of the Blunt-Carnahan contest indicates to some in both camps that Blunt has yet to benefit from any perceived GOP edge. (It also doesn't help the GOP cause, some analysts say, that Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, generally continues to snag strong approval numbers from the public. His Rasmussen numbers were stronger than other recent polls.)
Some St. Louis area Republicans privately also give tactical credit to the league's latest ad -- running for a month -- that shows a make-believe politician who resembles Blunt, and drips oil as he mingles in a crowd. The ad asserts that he's too aligned with the oil industry.
The ad doesn't mention Carnahan. Even so, Republicans -- including Blunt -- have accused Carnahan for months of being in cahoots with the league. Her campaign has replied for months that she has had no contact or involvement with the environmental group or its anti-Blunt ads.
As long as there is no contact, and the ads don't mention Carnahan, they don't count as a campaign donation for Carnahan. (Not complying with that law is why there's a federal prison sentence awaiting former state Sen. Jeff Smith.)
Still, asserted state GOP spokesman Jonathon Prouty: "The League is attempting to purchase the seat for Carnahan."
League communications director Mike Palamuso replied Thursday that the group's ads have nothing to do with any Blunt rivals. He sais they are aimed at Blunt and, in other states, against various members of Congress who are seen as opponents of the cap-and-trade bill that already has narrowly passed the House, but is stalled in the Senate.
"We've ramped up our ads in Missouri because Congressman Blunt has been ramping up his rhetoric" against the bill, Palamuso added.
Blunt and his conservative allies say the measure will lead to higher energy costs for consumers, especially in states like Missouri that rely heavily on coal to produce electricity.
The League and its allies say the bill will curb pollution and encourage the development of cleaner alternative energy sources, which they say will lead to "green jobs."
Palamuso said the League's ads are "part of an ongoing effort to hold politicians from both parties accountable." He added that the League also has engaged in continual discussions with the staff of U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who has been critical of the cap-and-trade version that passed the House.
The state GOP's Prouty acknowledged that, so far, there has been no counter conservative ad blitz attacking Carnahan. A key reason, he said, is that national conservative groups are focused at the moment on their effort to defeat the Democratic health-care proposals before Congress.
After months of publicly blasting the League, Blunt now appears to have taken a different approach. Some residents in Blunt's district report this week that they are receiving in the mail a multi-page flier from Blunt in which he defends his energy record. Says the flier on the cover: "Don't be fooled. I don't work for the interests of Big Oil or the energy industry."
Some critics note that the flier is paid by Blunt's congressional office, not his campaign. However, on the surface the flier doesn't appear to break any campaign laws since it doesn't mention the Senate contest or his likely Democratic opponent.
The state Democratic Party disagrees. State party chairman Craig Hosmer announced he is filing a complaint with the Missouri Ethics Commission. "It was bad enough when corporate special interests and lobbyists were funding Congressman Blunt’s campaign," he asserted. "But now Missouri taxpayers are footing the bill.”
But the fact that Blunt has sent out the literature indicates that he may share the assessment by some in both camps that the League's hefty ad blitz has had an effect.
Palamuso said the group was ending its Missouri ad campaign for the holidays.
In 2010, he indicated that the League -- and its ads -- are likely to return.
