New Day for America, the outside group backing John Kasich, released a new ad in New Hampshire Monday morning attacking Marco Rubio for voting against the Violence Against Women Act. Within hours, the Kasich campaign publicly condemned the spot. Kasich strategist John Weaver called on New Day, which federal election law prevents from coordinating with the campaign, to take the ad down.
Sometimes your friends think they're helping but are not.
— John Weaver (@JWGOP) February 1, 2016Within hours, New Day told Time reporter Zeke Miller it had pulled the ad, replacing it with an uplifting spot called “Sunrise.”
Kasich super PAC says they have pulled Ayotte/Rubio ad. Now running this in its place https://t.co/vYV0Bj0vFg
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) February 1, 2016The spat demonstrates that Weaver and his colleagues are shifting strategies in the final week before the New Hampshire primary—and that their affiliated PAC is struggling to keep up. For the last several months, the Ohio governor has been airing ferocious attack ads against his closest rivals in New Hampshire, hitting Donald Trump for his incendiary rhetoric and Jeb Bush for levying new fees on Floridians.
But recognizing that voters have grown tired of the vitriol that has dominated the Republican race, the campaign dialed back its attacks on Trump in early January and launched positive ads in the last week. This morning, Weaver tweeted that Kasich “is running an optimistic, problem solving campaign & is attracting support for this singular approach.”