Koch group attacks Dems on ObamaCare, Keystone

A conservative group backed by Charles and David Koch is targeting Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) for supporting ObamaCare and voting against the Keystone XL Pipeline.

Americans for Prosperity on Wednesday began a television ad campaign against the two Democrats, who are critical figures in the battle for the Senate. Shaheen is facing a tough reelection battle, while Braley is seeking to win the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa).

{mosads}The first 30-second spot attacking Shaheen blasts her support of the Affordable Care Act.

“Things got much worse after Sen. Shaheen cast the deciding vote for ObamaCare,” says the ad. “There were radical reductions in the number of hospitals we had access to. Now 10 of our state’s 26 hospitals are cut off, yet she’s proud of supporting ObamaCare?”

The only qualified ObamaCare insurance provider in New Hampshire is Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, which has restricted the number of hospitals in its network.

Shaheen is facing former Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), who is seeking a return to the Senate from his new home state of New Hampshire.

Braley, meanwhile, is running against Republican state Sen. Joni Ernst in an Iowa race that could determine which party wins control of the Senate in November.

AFP criticizes Braley on the Keystone XL pipeline, saying he expressed support for the project before later voting against it.

“Bruce Braley claims he’s for Iowans like when he was for the Keystone pipeline he said would create thousands of jobs but a month later he voted against it,” says the ad. “Maybe those jobs aren’t the kind of jobs Braley respects.”

The ad goes on to play a clip of Braley that surfaced of him deriding Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) as a “farmer from Iowa” who’d be less qualified to be on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Sam Lau with the Iowa Democratic Party says the new ad buy for Ernst comes as no shock. 

“The Kochs don’t just have their eyes set on Iowa—they have pledged to spend $125 million on the midterm elections this year in attempts to elect candidates, like Ernst, who will be a rubber stamp for their corporate interests,” he said. “This comes after AFP spent more than $33 million in 2012 trying to defeat President Obama.”

— This article was updated at 4:26 pm.