Since Sept. 1, outside groups have reported spending $771,225 in Arizona races for the U.S. House, all of them in a single district — Congressional District 1.
The money is going toward efforts like this latest ad, put out today by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Commitee against Republican candidate Jonathan Paton:
In it, the DCCC paints Paton, of Marana, as a front man for the payday-loan industry, a label Paton has rejected. It's the second time in two weeks the DCCC has put out an ad linking him to that industry.
The National Republican Congressional Committee is also making good on its commitment to support Paton with $900,000 in spending.
The NRCC has spent $338,908 opposing Democratic candidate Ann Kirkpatrick of Flagstaff. The largest expenditure was on Sept. 14 — a $197,486 media buy. The group has also spent $141,422 supporting Paton.
In total, about 62 percent of the all outside spending so far has gone in favor of Paton.
However, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has spent $290,896 opposing Paton. Their biggest spending occurred on Sept. 11, when they put $168,399 toward an anti-Paton media buy.
In mid-August, as the primary-election season closed, Kirkpatrick had a large lead in fund raising over Paton, with about $700,000 more on hand. The NRCC has helped make up that difference with its spending.
That district covers almost half of Arizona, from Marana, across the Apache reservations to the New Mexico border, up to the Four Corners, and across Flagstaff and the Colorado Strip. That makes it a somewhat more complicated media evironment as well. The district covers parts of three different media markets — Phoenix, Tucson and Albuquerque.
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