Strouse Campaign Continues to be ‘Aggressive’ Despite DCCC Ad Cuts

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, a funding source for Democratic candidates running for congress, pulled ad buys for a number of its candidates running for office last week.

The decision to pull funding from congressional candidates was reported by a number of media outlets – among them Politico.com and Philly.com. The reports cited concerns the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has about tough races Republican incumbents are now in engaged in throughout the country – ones the national party doesn’t expect to win, reports say.

The calculation is now to dump money into seats Democrats hold while candidates who don’t hold seats will have to make their own way, the reports say. Democrats are fighting keep their numbers as Republicans are holding a 17 seat  majority in the House of Representatives.

Thoughts of closing the gap or winning back the majority are now gone, one DCCC  aide speculated in a story published by RollCall.com. They added the organization backing congressional campaigns at the district level is in “triage mode.”

Ad buys are being pulled in eight TV Markets, the DCCC has said in public statements.

Locally, Kevin Strouse’s campaign bid for the PA-8 seat will be effected by the DCCC’s decision since his campaign is one of the dozen or so losing support from the committee.

“Smart campaigns like ours don’t rely on outside spending and that’s why we’ve been on TV for weeks and have been running an aggressive campaign contrasting Kevin’s service to our country with Congressman Fitzpatrick’s support for the special interests that fund his campaign. Kevin Strouse is the only candidate in this race who vocally opposed the Bristol Township incinerator project that was backed by Fitzpatrick supporters, and Kevin is the only candidate in this race holding town halls and making himself available to the public in open, unscripted settings. Voters in Lower Bucks have a choice between a candidate like Strouse who has fought for our country, or an empty suit like Fitzpatrick who is in the pocket of Wall Street, ” Strouse campaign spokesperson Brendan McPhillips told LevittownNow.com Friday afternoon.

McPhillips pointed to the campaign’s attacks on Fitzpatrick earlier the week citing them as proof positive the campaign is far from over in their eyes.

Strouse called out Fitzpatrick for grandstanding on the issue of counter terrorism policy last week and for not making himself available to for an open forum the Congressman was invited participate in earlier this summer.

“It’s extremely disappointing that Congressman Fitzpatrick would politicize national security problems that he clearly doesn’t understand. I fought terrorism as an Army Ranger in Iraq and as a CIA officer, so it’s time to set the record straight for the 8th District: Treasury already has the necessary authority to target ISIS’s funding, and has been doing so for quite some time. The issue that we ought to be addressing is that training the Syrian rebels will take much longer than Congressman Fitzpatrick and his colleagues have indicated,” a statement from the Strouse campaign said.

According to the Strouse campaign, Executive Order 13324, signed by President George W.  Bush in 2001, provides the necessary framework for the Treasury department to sanction terrorist funding.

Strouse has expertise on counter-terrorism issues from his six years of experience at the CIA working on issues such as funding paths terrorist groups, McPhillips said.

The ad buy pull was first reported by Politico.com  on Monday. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has decided to scale back efforts in Republican held districts, citing the PA -8 seat held by incumbent Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, in an effort to assist elected Democrats in tough races, the report said.

Philly.com later reported the same and added comments from DCCC officials.

“Ad reservations are changing every week, and both Manan Trivedi and Kevin Strouse are running aggressive campaigns in a tough climate,” said DCCC spokesman Marc Brumer. “The National Republican Congressional Committee cast the decision as Democrats waving the white flag.”

Politico reported that the resources are being rededicated to races where elected democrats are facing tough than expected races currently.

According to the Philly.com report, the DCCC  reserved $1.9 million to help Strouse and another candidate running  in the blue column  in the Pennsylvania region before pulling the ad buys.

McPhillips said Saturday the campaign plans to remain on the air in the Philadelphia region until Election Day and will continue to attack Fitzpatrick on his lack of transparency, fighting for the middle class  and being in the pockets of Wall Street.

This Federal Election Campaign fundraising reports for the last quarter will be released soon,which could also tell how aggressive the Strouse campaign can be in the closing days of the race.