1/11/2014

Bloomberg paying for ads that both support and oppose Democrats who voted against the Senate background check bill last April, was he not serious about gun control?

This is actually pretty funny.  The most endangered Senate Democrats this next year just happen to be the ones that voted against the background check bill in the Senate last year.  They were also the ones that are getting the most help from the Democratic Senate Majority PAC, which Bloomberg just gave $2.5 million to.  But these were also the Democrats that Bloomberg was attacking in last year.  Bloomberg has enough money to spend some on adds attacking these Democrats and then give even more to finance ads that will defend them, but does that mean that Bloomberg wasn't really serious about pushing them on gun control?  From Mediaite:
After donating $2.5 million to the Democratic Senate Majority PAC, America’s favorite Democrat-turned-Republican-turned-independent, former New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg, is signaling that his great crusade against guns is running out of steam. . . . 
“There had been information that I had as recently as two weeks ago that he was resisting pressure from both [Sens. CharlesSchumer (D-NY) and [HarryReid (D-NV) to defend Mark Pryor, or not to attack Mark Pryor, on the gun issue,” MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell said of Bloomberg’s latest move on Tuesday. 
Mitchell observed that Bloomberg had previously appeared to be “single issue focused on guns at the risk of jeopardizing Senate for Democrats.” TIME Magazine reporter Mark Halperin confirmed that Bloomberg not only resisted pressure from the two highest ranking Democrats in the Senate, but also former President Bill Clinton, who asked Bloomberg to temper his enthusiasm for attacking politicians who oppose stricter gun laws if those politicians happen to be Democrats. 
Halperin added that, while there are many Democrats in the Senate up for reelection this year, they all enjoy some advantages; including strong fundraising, weak Republican challengers, and incumbency itself. These incumbents, he insisted, may hang on in November in spite of six-year midterm headwinds, but attacking these Senate Democrats from the left could imperil them by reducing the base’s enthusiasm. 
CNN reports that the Democratic Super PAC to which Bloomberg donated millions has already gone up with ads in support of some of this election cycle’s most embattled Senate Democrats, including Pryor, Kay Hagan (D-NC) and Mark Begich (D-AK). Each voted “no” on a resolution that would have banned high-capacity magazines in April of last year. Thus, Bloomberg has financially rooted himself on both sides of the guns issue. . . .
Given that Bloomberg ran a $12 million ad campaign in the run up to the Senate background check vote, that he spent money on other races and on guns leading up to the Newtown anniversary, and that he spent $14.1 million in ads for the entire year, it is very clear that the $2.5 million that he gave to the Democratic PAC is much greater than the amount that he spent on ads against Senate Democrats who voted against the background checks after their vote.

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