The 2016 election is 447 days away, but the political ad war has already arrived on Minnesota television sets.
The National Republican Congressional Committee today launched a television ad attacking U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan, a Democrat from Minnesota's 8th District, over the issue of the controversial Guantanamo Bay prison, which Nolan voted to close.
"Call Rick Nolan and tell him to keep Khalid Sheikh Mohammed locked up where he belongs," the narrator says.
This is not the first time the NRCC has targeted Nolan over this issue. An ad in the run-up to the 2014 election attacked Nolan for voting "to release terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay."
Nolan has been a consistent advocate of closing the Guantanamo Bay prison, which has been accused of hosting human rights violations.
Nolan does not yet have a declared opponent for his 2016 reelection campaign, but the NRCC believes his district to be a pickup opportunity and has been bombarding him with attacks for months.
Now, though, they're putting real money behind a hit and paying to air it on television instead of just sending out press releases and web videos. NRCC spokesman Zach Hunter said the national committee is spending "tens of thousands" of dollars against Nolan, as part of a total campaign in excess of $100,000 against Nolan and Nebraska Democrat Brad Ashford.
Things will get a lot more heated and expensive as the campaign gets closer, but this is still a paid political advertisement running against an as-yet unopposed incumbent almost 15 months before the election.
Nolan's spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment on the ad.
After the jump, watch the ad and read a transcript.
NARRATOR: His name is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
Born in Pakistan, educated in America.
And, since 2006, imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay for masterminding the 9/11 attacks.
And now Rick Nolan wants to invite him back to America.
Nolan’s voted to close the Guantanamo Bay prison that’s been holding this vicious terrorist for nine years, and allow him to come to the very country he’s vowed to destroy.
Call Rick Nolan and tell him to keep Khalid Sheikh Mohammed locked up where he belongs.
NRCC is responsible for the content of this advertising.
The post Ad Watch: 2016 arrives as Republicans air anti-Nolan TV ad appeared first on The Political Animal.