Tag: NRCC

Because it sure feels that way to me:

“This should come as a warning shot to Democrats,” the NRCC said in a post-election press release. “The elitist behavior of the Democratic front-runner and the liberal and extremist positions that he and his fellow Democrats in Congress have staked their claim to, do not appear to be as salient as they once hoped.”

Talk about lowering the bar.  Suddenly Democrats should be on the defensive for winning Republican-held R+6.5 open seats in the South?

Hang in there, Tom Cole and friends.  I know this must’ve been a rough night for you.

Well, we’ve seen some race-baiting and outright lies by Republican Party operatives in ads over the last two days.  I guess they thought that since Don is a Democrat, he would shrivel up into the fetal position, and whine.  Think again.  It’s not 2004, but 2008.  Democrats today stand up and fight what we all know is right:

Help keep this ad on the air right up until Election Day (May 3rd) by donating here.

Hat Tip to The Stakeholder AND cross-posted at Daily Kingfish.

The DCCC has filed a second complaint against the NRCC and Freedoms Watch for:

• Running a political attack ad that directly and illegally advocates the defeat of a Democratic candidate AND
• failing to disclose the names of the donors funding that ad

They’ve even made a video outlining their case:

Remember when John Boehner hollered at his fellow caucus-members to get off their “dead asses“? It looks like that necrotic Republican ass-flesh is staying firmly put:

Senior Republicans have ignored the impassioned plea of House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) that they help the party raise more money for the November election.

While the ranking Republicans of several committees have given tens of thousands of dollars to the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), others have given nothing or very little.  

…

The appeal eventually moved Rep. Jim McCrery (La.), the senior Republican on the Ways and Means Committee. He gave $100,000 to the NRCC from his personal campaign account on the last day of March. He gave $500,000 in 2007.

But other ranking Republicans have not given anything since Boehner’s pep talk.

McCrery, of course, is retiring, so he doesn’t even need the money.

Anyhow, no matter that the exhortation came from Boehner, Tom Cole will almost inevitably take the blame for the NRCC’s shoddy performance, as well he should. But could misfortune eventually redound to Boehner as well? May the gods of schadenfreude smile upon us!

From The Hill:

“We have exceeded expectations on the recruitment front,” said NRCC spokesman Ken Spain. “Across the board, top-tier Republican candidates are running in districts that promise to be competitive in places like the Rust Belt, the Northeast, the upper Midwest and in the emerging battleground of the Southwest.”

Folks, Ken Spain needs your help.  Clearly, he has forgotten the long list of recruitment failures that have plagued the House GOP this cycle.

SSP has some of the most knowledgeable commenters around.  In fact, when it comes to downballot races, you guys are second to none.  But folks, we’ll need each of you to really dig deep and help Ken out with a list of every GOP recruitment failure so far this cycle.

Let’s get to work!

UPDATE:

Republican leaders play down the difficulty of finding willing candidates. Ken Spain, a spokesman for the House Republicans’ campaign committee, acknowledged the challenges in certain districts but said the party had done a good job of recruitment over all.

“We believe we have fielded one of the best Republican recruitment classes in quite some time,” he said.

Now we’re just getting beyond spin.

From The Hill:

Some GOP insiders have bemoaned the NRCC’s recruiting shortcomings. One top GOP consultant said the effort has “been a disaster.”

“The approach to recruiting has been weak, and it’s driven by a staff that doesn’t know the districts they’re recruiting in,” the consultant said. “[Chairman Tom] Cole [Okla.] can’t do everything, and he’s been let down by those who serve him.”

From The Hill:

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) saw its cash on hand decline $1.3 million between January and February, as it spent more than $1 million on an unsuccessful special election and uncovered that hundreds of thousands were lost in alleged fraud.

The NRCC invested heavily in the race of Republican Jim Oberweis, who unsuccessfully ran for former House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s (R-Ill.) district earlier this month. Almost all of the $1.2 million the NRCC spent was recorded in its February report, which was filed Thursday. The alleged illegal funneling of money by one of the committee’s former employees, Christopher Ward, was revealed in a briefing last week.

All told, the NRCC raised $4.6 million in February, but it spent $5.1 million. Its final cash dropped from $6.4 million at the end of January to $5.1 million at the end of February, with $1.9 million in still-unpaid debt.

The NRCC reported its actual cash on hand at the beginning of the month to be $5.7 million, about $700,000 less than previously thought. It paid down just $400,000 in debt.

For Tom Cole and his hapless colleagues at the NRCC, it’s enough to make you cry:

The National Republican Congressional Committee overstated by $740,000 its cash on hand as of Jan. 31 due to fraud allegedly committed by a former employee, an NRCC document obtained by Roll Call reveals.

An ongoing investigation into accounting irregularities at the NRCC has determined that ex-committee Treasurer Christopher J. Ward allegedly funnelled “several hundred thousand dollars” from the NRCC into his own bank accounts since at least 2004. The probe has also found that Ward submitted to the NRCC’s bank and to House GOP leadership “bogus” audit reports for years 2002-2005, with an additional “bogus” audit report provided to the NRCC’s bank for 2006. […]

The NRCC originally reported $6.4 million on hand as of Jan. 31. That figure should have been about $5.7 million.

This isn’t exactly the kind of news that the cash-starved NRCC wants to hear these days.

Tom Cole, the chair of the NRCC, just lost an R+5 district formerly held by none other than Dennis Hastert, aka Denny the Hutt, aka the immediate past Speaker of the House – a district that the Hutt himself helped re-draw after the 2000 census as part of an incumbent protection plan. Tom Cole spent over a million bucks on this race from his shrinking kitty. Tom Cole is now one seat further from retaking a majority that is so, so far out of reach.

And, I suspect, there’s a good chance that Tom Cole will be out on his ass before long.

Brownsox recently took note of rumors that an Oberweis loss here would lead to Cole getting sacked. And the signs are all there. Remember this?

Apparently, House Minority Leader John “Small Price” Boehner is upset with NRCC Chair Tom Cole’s stewardship of the organization, and is heavily pressuring Cole to make some significant personnel changes.  Cole has said privately that he would rather resign than bow to such demands.

And just a ten days ago, there was this:

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) is clearly not content to sit this one out, as he exhorted his colleagues to get off their “dead asses” and pony up for the party.

However unhappy Boehner was last week, he is a lot more pissed off tonight. Pissed enough to can Cole’s sorry ass? He may just be.

So, cast your predictions in this thread and vote in the poll below the fold. Will Cole get fired? If so, when? The deathwatch begins!

P.S. The GOP is stuck with Oberweis for November, too! Hahaha suckers!!!