Exclusive: Senate Democrats Flooding South Dakota Airwaves
Residents fill in their ballots during early voting at the Black Hawk County Courthouse on September 27, 2012 in Waterloo, Iowa. Early voting starts today in Iowa where in the 2008 election 36 percent of voters cast an early ballot.
Photo by Scott Olson/Getty ImagesThe Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee will spend $1 million in South Dakota — mostly on television and the rest on field operations — in a last-minute attempt to hold a U.S. Senate seat they now view as winnable, Bloomberg Politics has learned. A DSCC official said advertising will likely be on the air by Monday. As in the Kansas Senate race, Democrats believe they now have a chance to offset inevitable losses elsewhere and maintain control of the Senate.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the party has polled the race four times, including last week, and the results were close enough to warrant the spending, the vast majority of which will go for negative TV ads attacking Republican nominee Mike Rounds. The seat currently is held by Democrat Tim Johnson, who is retiring.