Dems dominating TV ads, but GOP set to counter soon

If you've seen a local political TV ad or found a glossy partisan mailer in the mailbox lately, chances are high it was from a Democrat.

Cable ads from Democrats have largely gone unchallenged for weeks on TV screens across the suburbs while dozens of mailers blasting the GOP have only been met by a handful of counterattacks.

Less than four weeks out from Election Day, incumbent suburban Republicans and GOP candidates are just now starting to ramp up advertising in contentious races that threaten the limited power the party hopes to retain.

"This does seem significant. The Democrats have been out there early," says Kent Redfield, interim director for the Institute of Legislative Studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield. "It is an advantage."

Democrats have spent at least $400,000 on cable ads across seven West and Northwest suburban races so far.

In comparison, just one suburban Republican state Senate candidate, Dan Duffy in the Lake County-based 26th District, had TV ads as of early this week. Two other Republicans are expected to start running ads today.

House Republican spokesman David Dring says his side will catch up, but the GOP didn't have the cash to match the Democrats over the last several weeks.

"By the end of the month it will even out," Dring said.

By Election Day both the parties and the candidates in about a dozen contested races will end up spending hundreds of thousands of dollars - if not millions of dollars - on mailers, staff, TV ads and phone banking.

Democrats are hoping to increase their majorities at the state Capitol. Republicans are playing more defense than offense as they try to gain seats that could give them more say on state policy.

The key battles are taking place in the suburbs, where Democrats see demographic and voting behavior shifts that could signal an erosion of Republican support.

Democratic candidates in many of these critical races need to establish both name recognition and an argument against an incumbent Republican or a GOP-endorsed opponent.

Hoping to do just that, Democratic challenger Aurora Austriaco, who hopes to unseat state Rep. Rosemary Mulligan, started airing her first ad last week.

Austriaco's ad paints the six-term incumbent from Des Plaines as disconnected with voters. It also promotes herself as a representative who will to talk to constituents in the 65th District.

"It is an effective medium and I will continue to focus on the issues," Austriaco says about the ad.

A similar ad from Democrat Carol Javens is running against state Rep. Sid Mathias in the 53rd District covering parts of Buffalo Grove and Arlington Heights.

Illinois Democratic Party spokesman Steve Brown called the ad placements the "logical thing to do."

"There is a good group of strong incumbents and some energetic challengers in districts that have been widely unrepresented," Brown said in echoing the 'out of touch' theme Democrats have been hurling at Republicans.

At the same time, incumbent Republicans may not need as many ads because they have more prominence in the district than the challengers, says Mathias.

"I think a lot of people know who I am and what I stand for," he said. "We are not scrambling."

Republican challengers, though, may not have that cushion.

For example, Democrat Mark Walker has been running positive ads for weeks that have gone unmatched by Republican Christine Prochno. Both are competing to replace retiring state Rep. Carolyn Krause in the 66th District near O'Hare International Airport.

Prochno is expected to launch her first TV ad today. And so will Anita Forte-Scott, who is challenging state Rep. Paul Froehlich, a Schaumburg Democrat.

Other suburban Democrats running cable ads include Froehlich, Dianne McGuire of Naperville, Kieth Farnham of Elgin and Fred Crespo of Hoffman Estates.

Since Democrats started blanketing the suburbs with TV ads and mailers in September, Republicans have been working overtime to raise the cash they need to compete.

Mulligan said it wasn't in her original plan to run TV ads. "At first I kind of balked at putting that kind of money on TV ads," said Mulligan of Des Plaines.

But once she saw Austriaco's ads go up last week, Mulligan said she hit the local fundraising circuit over the weekend.

"We will fight back," she said.