A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
New Hampshire's Senate race is one of a handful that will determine which party controls Congress. Democratic Congressman Chris Pappas is facing former Republican Senator John E. Sununu. Outside groups are spending a lot of money on it - about 50 million bucks so far. Josh Rogers of NHPR has a story.
JOSH ROGERS, BYLINE: It's no stretch to see Pappas and Sununu as two of New Hampshire's most successful politicians. Exhibits A are their records. Pappas is 4-and-0 in his congressional runs, while Sununu has only lost once during five bids for federal office. But that either man could have ever prevailed in any election can feel surprising, given the glut of negative ads.
(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)
UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #1: After we fired John Sununu, he spent the last 15 years cashing in.
UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #2: You can find Chris Pappas here - in the pocket of D.C. lobbyists.
UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #3: Higher costs for our prescriptions.
UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #4: And gas prices.
UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #5: That's John Sununu.
UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR #6: Will Chris Pappas ever put New Hampshire ahead of his party?
ROGERS: There's also the deluge of direct mail. Some pieces are straightforward. One paid for by the National Republican Senate Committee lays out Sununu's current platform, term limits and cutting congressional pay during government shutdowns. It's a modest agenda for a politician who's often focused on more complicated policy matters. But speaking to New Hampshire Public Radio, Sununu says, in an atmosphere where outside spending dominates, a simple message is probably required.
JOHN SUNUNU: You've got to work really hard to keep your message focused, to break through, to make sure that people can appreciate you for who you are, what you have to offer, what kind of a leader you're going to be.
ROGERS: There's a lot for both Sununu and Pappas to break through these days. But as this race has tightened, GOP-aligned groups have spent big on ads attacking Pappas. Earlier this month, the pro-Trump No Going Back PAC reserved $10 million in New Hampshire advertising. The same group is also stuffing mailboxes with flyers claiming Pappas sold out to Big Insurance because he backed extending premium subsidies for Obamacare. Pappas says after four campaigns for Congress, he expects moneyed interests to swoop in from every direction, but that doesn't make it right.
CHRIS PAPPAS: Look. This is unacceptable, the way our campaign finance system works. And I'm the only candidate that's working to take on Big Money and to change the way this system works.
ROGERS: Pappas has sponsored legislation to require greater disclosure for outside campaign spending, but the bill has failed to gain traction due to GOP opposition in the House. And in the meantime, spending on political ads, even of the most perishable kind, is only growing.
JOE SWEENEY: We're sort of in a slop economy when it comes to the marketing that we're seeing.
ROGERS: Joe Sweeney is a Republican state rep. He also works as a consultant at a local political advertising firm. He says the wave of money in the Senate race isn't aiming for nuance.
SWEENEY: We're competing for attention, for people. And we're just trying to get three seconds of their time - three seconds for them to look at a mailer, three seconds for them to look at an ad before they change the channel or skip it. So all the effort you're seeing is just trying to capture somebody's three seconds of attention.
ROGERS: But for many voters on the receiving end of all this, even three seconds is too much.
MARY ANN SPENCE: It's just all garbage. Nobody's hearing anything of any substance.
ROGERS: Mary Ann Spence lives in Meredith. She says she recently returned home from a week's vacation to find more than a dozen political fliers filling her mailbox.
SPENCE: I don't even look at them anymore. I don't read them because I know there's nothing worthy of reading that's going to help me decide who to vote for.
ROGERS: Which may be true. But as long as this U.S. Senate race is seen as competitive, the political mailers are going to keep piling up.
For NPR News, I'm Josh Rogers in Concord, New Hampshire.
(SOUNDBITE OF CHARLES BRADLEY SONG, "THE WORLD (IS GOING UP IN FLAMES) (FEAT. MENAHAN STREET BAND)" Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.