FRANKFORT — An out-of-state advocacy group is spending big bucks on television ads in Kentucky to criticize Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul for threatening "Kentucky values."
The 30-second spot says Paul is "opposed to helping farmers" and calls coal "the least favorable form of energy."
American Future Fund, based in Des Moines, Iowa, launched the ad Friday, spending $104,296 to air the the spot 148 times in the Lexington TV market before the May 18 election, according to the public ad file at WKYT-TV.
That spending dwarfs the amount being spent for Lexington TV ads by either Paul or his chief opponent, Secretary of State Trey Grayson. Paul is spending about $26,000 to air ads on WKYT from May 3 to May 18, compared with $51,105 being spent by American Future Fund to air ads on the channel from May 7 to May 17. Grayson is spending $17,880 with WKYT for ads that air from May 3 to May 10.
It would cost more than $500,000 for the issues advocacy group, which says it speaks out for conservative and free-market views, to make similar ad buys across the state. It's unclear whether they plan to run such ads.
Read the complete story at kentucky.com