Rep. Tom Cotton is going after President Barack Obama and what he describes as ongoing bad judgment in "underestimating" the threat of the Islamic State (ISIS) as violence continues in Syria and Iraq.
The Republican Cotton, a former Army Ranger and Harvard grad who is seeking to oust incumbent first-term Democratic senator Mark Pryor in Arkansas, launched a new ad called "Decisions" in which he decries the ongoing beheading of Americans and crucifixions of Christians by radical Islamist terrorists, the
Washington Free Beacon reported. He blames the president for not understanding the threat.
"We need a senator who will hold the president accountable and make America safer," Cotton, 37, notes in the ad spot in which he says he made tough decisions as a soldier in Iraq and can make those same tough decisions on behalf of U.S. security.
The television spot is a part of a $20 million ad campaign in the hard-fought Arkansas race where the youthful Cotton has a stronghold among conservatives,
ArkansasNews.com reported, ranking it seventh in midterm election ad spending nationwide.
Cotton raised about $4 million in the last quarter alone as conservatives attempt to turn the blue seat red.
"You can compare it to a nuclear arms race," noted Hendrix College politics professor Jay Barth of the Senate battle in an interview with Arkansas News. "If one side backed down, they might well lose in a race, which has been so close for so long. So, you are not going to see anyone back down."
According to a Real Clear Politics assessment of the hard-fought Arkansas Senate contest: Cotton is "banking virtually his entire candidacy on the president's negatives." An RCP polling average taken from Sept. 18 to Oct. 7 found Cotton ahead by 4.4 percentage points.
A poll by the Arkansas Democrat Party found Pryor up by 3 points, leading Cotton narrowly, 45-42 percent,
Roll Call reported.
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