DSCC Pulls Robin Carnahan Ads

Newsguy Jason Church just reported via metro that the DSCC just canceled two weeks worth of ads supporting Robin Carnahan’s run for US Senate. From the National Journal:

But at this point, it appears as though the DSCC moving money out of the state. The ad cancellations are an indication that national Democrats are growing bearish on Secretary of State Robin Carnahan‘s (D) chances against Rep. Roy Blunt (R), as polling shows Blunt with a sizable lead.

Carnahan has been struggling against Blunt even since before the primary in which Blunt scored more votes than all the candidates in the Democratic primary combined.

RNC Cuts GOTV Deployment Program

When I walked downstairs this morning for day two of the Smart Girl Summit the talk in the hallways centered around the news that the RNC cut funding from its GOTV campaign, particularly the deployment program, to curb costs. “Deployment” is when Capitol Hill sends out staffers to various districts to help the push leading up to the election. Many wondered why the RNC would do this when in the most important election cycle – odd even, for a non-presidential election – of our generation.

“The Republican National Committee has decided against sending Congressional staffers out on the campaign trail for traditional get-out-the-vote efforts, focusing its resources instead on mailings and other last-minute pre-election efforts, the committee confirmed Tuesday,” Roll Call reports. “The RNC traditionally runs the GOTV operation for Capitol Hill, which includes recruiting and registering staff that want to help the GOP at the state level… Doug Heye, a spokesman for the RNC, said the money would instead be used to fund other parts of its ’72-hour program,’ such as paid mail. Heye said the RNC made the decision after a review of deployments during the 2009 elections in New Jersey and Virginia.

A scan of the web pulled up few articles.

I wrote on Twitter:

Shortly thereafter I got an email from RNC spokesman Doug Heye about the matter asking me to call him.

Heye explained that the RNC decided to trim GOTV and cut deployment because it “was a boondoggle. It was outrageously expensive. The average person deployed wasn’t knocking on doors, making calls all day.”

In light of the recent criticisms against the RNC, with the Hawaii conference, Steele’s cross-country tour, I can see why the RNC would want to rectify an ineffective and expensive program to ward off further accusations of wasteful spending – so long as the money saved stays with their GOTV efforts, which Heye explained that it would.

Heye discussed the RNC’s other GOTV efforts.

“We have 352 victory offices funded by us throughout country. We’ve crossed the 20 million contact threshold – contact in messages left, door knocks, phone calls. We’re ahead of where we were in 2008 and in the next five weeks we’ll have a minimum of two million more contacts.”

One of the concerns discussed in recent weeks by conservatives has included the push for early and absentee voters. Ohio has already started voting; Heye estimated that 40% of voters will have voted before election day. “It’s why people are going negative earlier.”

Heye also noted that “indexed for inflation, we will outraise 1994” and that the RNC is in the same position that the DNC was in back in 1996 with “no White House, no chamber of congress.” The RNC has raised $165 million, Heye disclosed. He admitted that it both hurt and helped that so many other groups and campaigns are taking donations and raising money in new ways with the explosion of conservative netroots and grassroots.

Surprise: Liberal Group Releases List of Republicans It Hates

CREW, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, not to be confused with the infinitely more awesome crue, released a list of the Mostly Republicans We Hate “Crooked Candidates” for 2010. They’ve been getting play on a couple networks and former Democrat activist and CREW head Melanie Sloane has been insisting at every opportunity that her group is “non-partisan.”

Right.

Non-partisan in that seemingly every person listed as a title-holder on the group’s website is a democrat and that members have worked with SEIU, Tom Harkin, Al Gore’s climate protection initiative, and even Joe Biden (Sloane), which I think is important to mention considering the majority of CREW’s criticism is, momentarily, directed entirely at Christine O’Donnell who is vying for Biden’s old seat. The group is also funded by far left umbrella Democracy Alliance, an outfit founded by two former Clinton operatives who publicly lists George Soros as a major donor.

But hey. NON-PARTISAN.

Their list of crooked candidates lists two from Missouri (but oddly, not a whisper about Russ Carnahan who is now at the center of a controversy being that he voted ‘yes’ on the stimulus and his brother’s windfarm received $90 million dollars in stimulus money) and of course, Christine O’Donnell. They make hay over the allegation from a disgruntled O’Donnell staffer but their website makes no mention of the below, among others:

• The Pigford scandal which could cost Americans billions if passed by congress in invetted USDA claims
• The story of Eleanor Holmes Norton who was caught on tape violating FEC law by calling lobbyists and shaking them down for cash in voicemail
• Geithner, save for this, the most critical of the words written him (previously as reference only) on the website – note the difference in aggression when compared to O’Donnell
• An in-depth look of stimulus waste (it seems they focus mainly on lobbyists)
• An examination of non-elected health panels and the new process by which the FDA will regulate medicine under health control
• The ridiculous disparity between their address to Democrat candidates and their over-the-top, torches and pitchforks approach to Republican candidates. To wit: a letter CREW sent “expressing concerns” over the Dodd-Frank act in the Consumer Protection Act:

Today, CREW and 10 other government transparency advocates sent a letter to Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) outlining concerns with provisions in the recently passed Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Chris Dodd, one of the causes of the Fannie/Freddie disaster and they “express concerns.” Did they send a Hallmark card apologizing afterwards? Meanwhile their homepage is the equivalent of the graffiti on a girl’s bathroom stall wall, subject: O’Donnell. They pay a penance of going after fish-in-a-bucket target Charlie Rangel but a handful of obvious easy criticisms does not make a group non-partisan; consistency and lack of ties to a well-known progressive sugar daddy does.

This Morning’s GMA

Click image for video.

Also, George’s blog.

Mailbag: The Karl Rove Book Return Club

I received this hilarious email from listener Jim with the accompanying photo:

I’m sending his book back. His comments about O’Donnell were the trigger. He made a major mistake, he took off his mask and let us see who he really represents behind the scenes, big government and washington as usual politics. This tea partier has no desire to go back to the glory days of Hastert, Tom Delay, Trent Lott, and a Bush that could never seem to find his veto pen to control his own party.

Jim

There has been some speculation that Rove is setting himself up as the bad guy in order to help fuel conservative voter outrage and assist getting people to the polls this November, which, if true, is bad strategy because it presupposes that voters aren’t already on their own merit sufficiently outraged. They’ve been doing just fine right now without the assistance of any political dark arts. The other alternative is that he is as beltway and blockheaded as they come and has effectively neutered for the future any credibility or influence he may possess. One is obviously less ridiculous than the other, but the more I hear him speak the more I wonder if there really is no spoon and it’s really the latter.