New York Times: “Voter-profiling systems like the Covid-19 scores may be invisible to most people. But they provide a glimpse into a vast voter data-mining ecosystem in the United States involving dozens of political consulting, analytics, media, marketing and advertising software companies.”

“In the run-up to the midterm elections next month, campaigns are tapping a host of different scores and using them to create castes of their most desirable voters. There are ‘gun owner,’ ‘pro-choice’ and ‘Trump 2024’ scores, which cover everyday politics. There are also voter rankings on hot-button issues — a ‘racial resentment’ score, for example, and a ‘trans athletes should not participate’ score. There’s even a ‘U.F.O.s distrust government’ score.”

“Campaign and media consultants say such political-issue scores make it easier for candidates to surgically target messages to, and mobilize, the most receptive voters.”

New York Times: “Republican super PACs are paying a steep premium to compete on the airwaves with Democratic candidates, a trend that is playing out nationwide with cascading financial consequences for the House and Senate battlefield. Hour after hour in state after state, Republicans are paying double, triple, quadruple and sometimes even 10 times more than Democrats for ads on the exact same programs.”

“One reason is legal and beyond Republicans’ control. But the other is linked to the weak fund-raising of Republican candidates this year and the party’s heavy dependence on billionaire-funded super PACs.”

Walter Shapiro: “There are a few lessons from political science for campaign donors and ordinary voters. No matter how much a campaign hypes a particular ad in a fundraising email, the spot, at best, is only going to have a minuscule effect at the margins. And if you care about the effectiveness of your donation, ignore the high-profile Senate races that are dominating the news. You will get far more bang for your buck by investing in House races and down-ballot statewide contests for attorney general and secretary of state.”

Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand (D) is out with a new ad which points out that he’s annoying.

Longshot House candidate Katie Darling (D) is out with a new ad in Louisiana that shows her giving birth.

Donald Trump threatened Fox News with a lawsuit for running political ads produced by “the perverts and lowlifes” of the Lincoln Project.

Said Trump: “I thought they ran away to the asylum after their last catastrophic campaign, with charges made against them that were big time sleaze, and me getting many millions more votes in 2020 than I got in 2016. The Paul Ryun (sic) run Fox only has high standards for ‘Trump’ ads, but not for anyone else. The Perverts should not be allowed to ‘false advertise,’ and Fox News should not allow it to happen. See you all in Court!!!”

“A slip-up by social media giant Snap allowed leading Democratic campaigns and party committees to unwittingly tap into a vast repository of Republican voter data to hone their midterm ads,” Axios reports.

“There’s no indication Snap was aware of or facilitated that data sharing, and the company said it’s taking steps to rectify the oversight. But the blunder underscores the sensitivities surrounding reams of voter data that have become a highly valuable political commodity.”

“Five House Democrats in battleground districts have spent at least five figures from their office accounts on Facebook ads over the last week,” Politico reports.

“The spending comes from each office’s ‘franking’ budget, which each House office receives for communication with constituents. The five members who spent at least $10,000 — Democratic Reps. Matt Cartwright, Josh Gottheimer, Andy Kim, Dina Titus and Henry Cuellar — are all in at least nominally competitive districts, and are the only members to crack five figures in that same time period.”

“The return from the Labor Day holiday marks the unofficial final sprint to Election Day, and this year is slated to be no exception — there’s already been $1.4 billion in political ad bookings placed between Tuesday and Election Day, with that number expected to swell in the coming weeks,” NBC News reports.

“Right now, Democrats have the edge overall — more than $658 million in bookings compared to the GOP’s $554 million, per ad-tracking firm AdImpact.”

Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) is running an ad talking about how he’s keeping his district safe.

Punchbowl News: “The interesting thing is that he paid for this spot with government money, not campaign funds. The ad isn’t explicitly political – but it’s awfully close.”

“Clearly, what Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was going for was a comparison to Tom Cruise,” the Washington Post reports.

“Hence the ‘Top Gov’ label at the beginning of his latest political ad, which resembles that of Cruise’s Top Gun movies, and the slo-mo shots of the Republican governor zipping up a flight suit over an energetic guitar music track. DeSantis ‘briefs’ an out-of-view team — presumably Florida voters — about the ‘rules of engagement’ for ‘dogfighting’ with the ‘corporate media.’ At one point, he sits in the cockpit of what appears to be a fighter jet, flight helmet on, and says, ‘Alright, ladies and gentlemen.'”

“What are DeSantis and his team getting instead? Comparisons to Michael Dukakis, the Massachusetts governor who made one of the most-mocked campaign photo ops in modern political history while running for president in 1988.”

FWIW: “With less than 12 weeks (!) to go until Election Day, we’ve noticed a pretty consistent trend in our digital ad tracking. Week after week, Democratic candidates in competitive Senate, House and Gubernatorial contests are outspending — sometimes dramatically — their Republican opponents.”