As autumn settled over Los Angeles, Rep. Karen Bass suddenly found herself in a tight race with developer Rick Caruso.
The double-digit lead that polls showed she built through the summer had crumbled under a multimillion-dollar onslaught of attack ads. Clips of her giving a speech to a over a decade ago aired in heavy rotation. Spots appeared on all platforms about a USC scholarship she received, which was being mentioned in the corruption prosecution of a city official.
Bass offered explanations for both, but had little money to respond with advertising of her own.
By mid-October, public and private polling showed the congresswoman only slightly ahead, or neck and neck. On Oct. 17, the campaign’s own polling showed the race tied, 45% to 45%.
“We just felt the barrage of dollars and we couldn’t show anything yet,” said Community Coalition Chief Executive Alberto Retana, who runs the nonprofit Bass founded. “The volunteers were just calling and hearing people ask: ‘Is the Scientology thing true?’”
In need of a shot of momentum, Bass’ campaign team had their pollster, David Binder, write a memo about the state of the race. It was sent to political advisors to former President Obama.
“I wanted to make sure I took some time out to talk to you personally just to say how proud I was of your campaign,” Obamain a FaceTime call with Bass, which was recorded and the campaign hustled to get on the air as a television spot.
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