This election cycle, it is Democrats who are making unforced errors.*  Democrats are clearly rattled over the prospect of losing the Senate, and starting to make stupid mistakes. Doing his Todd Aiken impression, incumbent Alaska Democrat Senator Mark Begich has outraged Alaskans. Alexandra Jaffe of The Hill reports:

Sen. Mark Begich’s (D-Alaska) ad tying a horrific murder case in Alaska to Republican Dan Sullivan was a risk that immediately backfired.

The ad drew a rebuke not only from Sullivan but also from an attorney for the victims’ family, who lambasted the senator for “playing pure politics at the expense of my clients” in a letter issued Monday.

“You are tearing this family apart to the point that your ad was so shocking to them they now want to permanently leave the state as quickly as possible. Again, to be perfectly clear, it was your ad that shocked them,” Bryon Collins writes in the letter.

Begich has tried to portray himself as a maverick fighting for Alaska, a good guy, not your typical Democrat (Romney won Alaska by 14%).  By outraging the public with a below the belt attack, Begich has really stepped in it. His campaign has withdrawn the ad, an implicit admission of fault.

*So far. There’s still time for the GOP to blow it

Hat tip: Richard Baehr