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RI-SEN: NRSC Spends Over $500,000 On Chafee -- In Primary
This is eye-opening. The National Republican Senatorial Committee has pumped an astonishing $536,420.41 into the Rhode Island Senate race to date this year in an effort to rescue GOP Senator Lincoln Chafee from conservative primary challenger Steve Laffey. You can find the figure in the NRSC's filing today with the Federal Election Commission. And yet, as we reported below, Laffey is crushing Chafee in the latest poll. Yep, the NRSC is sinking huge sums of cash into a primary which they'd of course rather spend in GOP-versus-Dem races. But even those huge sums aren't working.
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And provided ample material for the DSCC and Whitehouse campaign to use in order to run on a shoestring.
August 31, 2006 5:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ah, and don't forget ... they are completely demoralizing their base as they do this. A group of people they are going to desperately need in the 10 weeks ahead.
You think activist Republicans are going to send more money to the RNC or RSCC to replace the money spent defeating their chosen candidate? No. They'll probably lose far more money than $500,000 that way.
August 31, 2006 10:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Absolutely.
And they're sending staff. Can you imagine how demoralizing it would have been if the Dems had sent staff to support Lieberman v. Lamont in the CT primary? Jeez. Half the staffers would have been working to sabotage Joe's campaign. I wonder if Chaffee's campaign is seeing something along these lines. Could help explain the poll numbers.
September 1, 2006 10:56 AM | Reply | Permalink