We Fear Your Democratic Money
by brownsox
Wed May 21, 2008 at 09:25:25 AM PDT
How's this for craven hypocrisy; the party that brought you "Call Me, Harold" in 2006, is now begging for Democrats to keep national money out of Senate races.
Leading the way, of course, is the very selfsame Senator who chaired the NRSC in 2006, when that odious RNC ad ran.
One of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole's top campaign advisors says he has asked the state and national Republican parties, as well as the National Republican Senatorial Committee, to steer clear of advertising in North Carolina's U.S. Senate race.
And he's calling on Jerry Meek, chairman of the N.C. Democratic Party, to do likewise with his Democratic counterparts.
"You can agree to not run advertising targeting Senator Dole during the 2008 election cycle as well as encourage your Senate nominee and national parties to abstain from third party advertisements," Mark Stephens, Dole's chief campaign strategist, said in a letter today to Meek.
So, let me get this straight; former NRSC chairwoman Elizabeth Dole, whose very job description put her in charge of steering national money to Senate races around the country in 2006, and running NRSC ads in those states...the same Elizabeth Dole who spent millions of NRSC dollars attacking Jon Tester, Jim Webb, Sheldon Whitehouse and Sherrod Brown...is now asking that the national parties stay out of her race?
Where does she get the gall?
Is it because the DSCC's been a fundraising juggernaut this cycle? Because the cash-strapped NRSC would be bringing a knife to a political gun fight for these candidates?
Nah. It's got to be in the name of civility, of course.
Strange, but when I think of Senate races, national party ads, and civility, my mind goes to this:
Dole isn't alone, naturally. Maine's Susan Collins has asked for the same:
"One of the biggest sources of negative ads are the national parties. We [Susan Collins' campaign] would make Congressman Allen this offer - if he will tell the Democratic Party not to run any television or radio ads in this campaign, we would make the same demand of the Republican Party. An arrangement such as that would be a huge step toward ensuring that the campaigns control the tone and the content of the television ads in this campaign."
As Senate Guru notes, Collins had no problem taking national money in her 2002 race. Neither did Dole, when she faced Erskine Bowles. Of course, the NRSC was positively flush back in those halcyon days.
From the Guru (props to him for picking up this story):
The only, I repeat - only, reason that Dole and Collins made these politically theatrical comments to their Democratic challengers is that the DSCC has $20 million more than the NRSC to spend on their candidates.
And, you know, it's just not fair that anybody has more money to play with than Republicans! They're supposed to be the rich ones!
Hilarious.
And pathetic.
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