Crossroads Ad: ObamaClaire and Obamacare

A new ad from Crossroads GPS ties Democratic senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri to President Barack Obama and his signature legislative achievement, Obamacare. The ad calls the pair "ObamaClaire" and reminds voters that McCaskill, who is up for reelection this November, voted for Obamacare in the Senate. Watch the ad below:

McCaskill is one of the more endangered Democratic senators in 2012. A new PPP poll released yesterday showed her statistically tied with three of the leading Republican candidates. But McCaskill's unfavorable rating--50 percent of those polled disapprove of her job performance--indicate she's in more trouble than the head-to-head match-ups let on. Here's more from PPP:

Claire McCaskill is basically tied with all three of her competitors, leading Brunner 46-44, dead even with Steelman at 44, and down 45-44 to Akin.  

McCaskill's approval spread is 40/50, numbers that don't usually get a Senator reelected. But she's benefiting from the current anonymity of the GOP field. Only 56% of voters are familiar with Steelman and that goes down to 43% for Brunner and 42% for Akin.

Update: McCaskill campaign spokesman Erik Dorey emails the following statement in response to the ad:

The insurance companies are buying these anonymous smear ads and lying about Claire because they know the only thing she's ever voted to cut is their profits. They are lying about Claire's record and they're lying that she voted to cut Medicare because she has always put Missouri's middle class families ahead of the insurance companies' bottom lines.