It's a good "get acquainted" ad. I've yet to see a Reed ad for broadcast.

This is Matt Zeller's most recent YouTube post, via the comments on the last post, and it concerns the Masonic Temple in Bath. Tim Kolpien from the Reed Campaign responded in the same comment thread, saying this:

Tom was a partner to raising more than $1 million in PRIVATE capital to restore this historic building and return it to productive use. The matching Restore New York grant has been consistently misrepresented as going to Tom personally. The grant money was applied for by the VILLAGE OF BATH, not Tom Reed. Further, the money has not even been disbursed yet.

Any assertions that Tom received any money are 100% false. This is public money and the records are public. As we have done for the last year, we challenge anyone to show one shred of evidence that this public money was disbursed to Tom. No one can produce any proof whatsoever that these allegations are true.

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Often, red herrings are in ALL CAPS when a politician drags them into an argument. As was discussed in detail when this story first broke, it's pretty easy to get a group of "PRIVATE" investors put together some money to renovate a property when the state is matching their investment dollar for dollar. This isn't the same thing as you or me risking our own money without a state match. When the check comes from the state, it won't say "Tom Reed" on it, but at some point this investor group will make a profit, and a check with Tom's name will be cut. That's the fundamental truth of the matter of the Masonic Temple in Bath -- Reed is leveraging a government program for his own profit. It's perfectly legal and pretty common. But the fact that he'd deny the City of Corning the same benefit that he gives himself is a legitimate issue in this campaign.

Massa also met with the Star-Gazette editorial board. Here's the S-G interview.

Finally, the Democratic National Committee has launched a pro-Massa radio ad campaign. Audio and text of the ad after the break:

Audio here

Text:

Congressman Eric Massa is fighting for New York. He's taking on the lobbyists and the special interests and standing up for us and our families. And he is working every day to make sure we have affordable quality health care.

Congressman Massa fought to expand health care to millions of children - and now Eric Massa is working for health insurance reform that lowers your costs and protects your choice of doctors and plans.

But it won’t be easy. Health insurance companies have made record profits by doubling premiums and denying people coverage.

And now, they and their lobbyists are fighting tooth and nail to stop reform and protect the status quo - and their profits – at the expense of affordable health care for families, small businesses and millions of Americans. But Eric Massa is fighting back.

Call Eric Massa at 585-218-0040. Thank Congressman Massa for standing up for New York families and our health care.

Paid for by the Democratic National Committee. Democrats.org. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. The DNC is responsible for the content of this advertising.

In fact, the list of targeted Representatives looks like someone threw darts at a Congressional directory. I can understand why Majority Leader Steny Hoyer [MD-5] was included, since the point there is merely to annoy. But Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin [SD-AL]? Her district is rated a "solid D" by Charlie Cook.

In New York, only John Hall [NY-19] made the cut, and Cook rates his district as safer than Eric Massa's, Mike Arcuri's [NY-24] and newcomer Scott Murphy's [NY-20]. In 2008, Hall beat his opponent by 18 points, compared to the nail-biters experienced by Massa, Arcuri and Murphy.

The NRCC was incompetent and ineffective in the last cycle, and this ad buy signals that we're probably in for more of the same in 2010.

Linking Pelosi with Massa is a long-time Republican strategy that didn't work out too well for Randy Kuhl. Pelosi's approval rating is as good or better than Congress' overall, it pretty much tracks Congressional Democrats' ratings, and it completely overwhelms Congressional Republicans. Republicans are between 18-30% approval, versus 43-50% for Democrats.

While the Republicans flail around trying to find an unpopular Democrat to link to Massa, unless trends change, Massa's job in 2010 will be much simpler. He just needs to point out that his opponent is a Republican.

The Hill points out that the Chamber of Commerce is congratulating Massa for his vote on the stimulus package.

Seeing the Chamber of Commerce and drug companies spending money to congratulate Massa has me waiting for frogs to fall out of the sky, peering at the horizon in search of horsemen.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Commitee spent another $9K on mailings Tuesday, bringing their total to $905K.

The DCCC has not posted a new anti-Kuhl or pro-Massa ad, so it's not clear what ad that money is paying for.

With this buy, the DCCC spending has far outstripped their Republican counterpart. The NRCC has spent less that $400K in the race, and their last expenditure was on some direct mail last Friday. $9K of direct mail on Monday.

I'm no expert in media buys, but I assume the window for booking TV time before the election is almost closed.

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The NRCC has released their first ad in the 29th district, which is embedded below. The charges in the ad are almost identical to Kuhl's most recent ad. (via The Albany Project)
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The ad shows the good and the bad of Internet advertising. The good is that you can figure out (roughly) where a user is from, and push ads related to the user's location. The bad is that you often can't control where your ad appears.

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(via Exile at the Albany Project)

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