What They Are Saying: CLF “MVP” in GA-06

CLF “Poured Money” Into The Race And Had “People On The Ground,” Even Received Praise From Democrats

The Washington Post’s Robert Costa “[Handel] has been boosted by House Speaker Paul Ryan’s affiliated super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund, they have poured money into this district they put people on the ground on the Republican side.” (MSNBC, 6/19/17)

Former Hillary Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon “You have to give Republicans credit, they ran a good race, there was a lot of outside money that came in. Paul Ryan’s outside organization spent $6 million I think, and they ran a good GOTV campaign.” (CNN, 6/20/17)

 

 

Washington Examiner “Republicans turned to Nancy Pelosi to win in Georgia “Congressional Leadership Fund, also known as Ryan’s super PAC, invested $7 million in the Georgia race, $4 million in the runoff campaign that began on April 19. Handel needed the help; she raised $6 million total, far less than Ossoff’s more than $23 million. The group opened field office in Roswell, leafy community in the upscale, suburban Atlanta district, and deployed 100 paid field staff to knock on doors and drum up votes. They were joined by an additional 50 volunteers and overseen by CLF’s data director and deputy national field director.” (David Drucker, “Republicans turned to Nancy Pelosi to win in Georgia,” Washington Examiner, 6/20/17)

 

 

•  Washington Examiner “The group’s field program was joined by ads on television and social media and via direct mail, with the approximately 300,000 contacts made targeted toward voting blocs specifically chosen for the runoff. That included 38,000 Republicans who voted in the GOP presidential primary in 2016 but didn’t vote in the 6th District special open primary on April 18, plus an additional 75,000 Republicans who usually vote for president but not in midterms. CLF even scraped for votes in overwhelmingly Democratic DeKalb County, targeting the 8,000 Republicans who live there.” (David Drucker, “Republicans turned to Nancy Pelosi to win in Georgia,” Washington Examiner, 6/20/17)

CLF Labeled As “Most Valuable Player” in GA-06 Race
Fox News’ Dana Perino “I would say ‘most valuable player’ should go to the Congressional Leadership Fund which is the third-party entity that raises a lot of money for these candidates.” (Fox News’ The Five, 6/20/17)

 

 

CNN Political Commentator Kevin Madden “The MVP of this campaign would have to be Paul Ryan and his Congressional Leadership Fund, those outside groups that knew this was going to be a battle of resources, just as much as a battle of ideas, came in and helped fill that void.” (CNN, 6/20/17)

CLF Successfully Labeled Jon Ossoff as a Nancy Pelosi Rubber Stamp and San Francisco Liberal  

 

 

POLITICO Georgia Special Election: 7 things to watch “Republicans have wielded House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who is also widely disliked in the district, against Ossoff. Ads from Republican groups have cast Ossoff as a puppet of liberal interests and a “rubber stamp [for] Pelosi’s failed agenda,” said Corry Bliss, the executive director of the GOP super PAC Congressional Leadership Fund.” (Elena Schneider, “Georgia Special Election” 7 things to watch,”POLITICO, 6/20/17).

Atlanta Journal-Constitution One early lesson from Georgia-6: Pelosi a potent campaign villain “Outside groups such as the House Republican-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund also frequently invoked Pelosi in their own attack ads.” (Tamar Hallerman, “One early lesson from Georgia-6: Pelosi a potent campaign villain,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 6/21/17)

Bloomberg News’ Margaret Talev “… It doesn’t matter unless you win, so you’re looking in the midterms they really have to focus on the right candidate and the right message, and staying away in the general election from being labeled a San Francisco liberal.” (CNN’s New Day, 6/21/17)

The Washington Post The Daily 202: Democrats despondent, Trump emboldened after GOP victory in Georgia special election “The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned closely with Ryan, spent more than $7 million in Georgia. ‘CLF tied Ossoff to Pelosi and her liberal agenda early and often, echoing the message on television, digital and radio advertising, as well as campaign literature and direct mail,’ Corry Bliss, executive director of the group, writes in an after-action report that will be widely distributed later today. Other outside groups and Handel also focused on this theme.” (James Hohamnn, The Daily 202: Democrats despondent, Trump emboldened after GOP victory in Georgia special election,” The Washington Post, 6/21/17). 

 

 

 CLF’s “Aggressive Playbook” Will Be A “Force To Reckon With Next November”

NATIONAL JOURNAL Handel’s Victory Shows Limits of Trump Card “One fi­nal note: The Paul Ry­an-aligned Con­gres­sion­al Lead­er­ship Fund su­per PAC played a pivotal role in lead­ing the op­pos­i­tion against Os­soff, set­ting the stage for a GOP mes­sage that from the out­set por­trayed the Demo­crat as a not ready-for-prime-time Pelosi aco­lyte. All told, the su­per PAC spent more than $7 mil­lion on the race. More im­port­antly, it showed that an out­side group can run a soph­ist­ic­ated ground game, identi­fy­ing tens of thou­sands of Re­pub­lic­an voters who didn’t par­ti­cip­ate in the first round of vot­ing but turned out en masse Tues­day night. The group’s ag­gress­ive play­book is be­ing rep­lic­ated in nu­mer­ous swing dis­tricts across the coun­try, and will be a force to reck­on with next Novem­ber.” (Josh Kraushaar, “Handel’s Victory Shows Limits of Trump Card,” National Journal, 06/21/17).

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