Two weeks after the announcement of a big ad campaign by a conservative organization against a leading Democrat in next year's US Senate race, environmental activists have launched ads against the incumbent Republican. From our Statehouse Bureau Karen Kasler reports.
The Sierra Club is hammering Sen. Rob Portman for opposing the Clean Power Plan, which the Club's Mary Anne Hitt says seeks to cut carbon pollution from power plants.
"Messages calling for Sen. Portman to support the Clean Power Plan will hit the television airwaves and numerous online channels as part of a major high-six-figure campaign," Hitt said.
But Portman says he wants the plan to include options for coal-dependent states such as Ohio to preserve jobs.
"I don't know what the ad's going to say. But I hope it's truthful," said Portman. "The last ad that one of these groups put up against me simply was not accurate."
This is an issue ad and doesn't support either Democrat in the Senate race.
The conservative Americans for Prosperity spent more than a million dollars on issue ads slamming Democratic former Gov. Ted Strickland, who leads Portman in recent polls.