Senate 2008 Guru: Following the Races

Keeping a close eye on developments in the 2008 U.S. Senate races

Thursday, November 30, 2006

National Republican Senatorial Committee's New Chair

I think everyone can agree that North Carolina Senator Elizabeth Dole was an abysmal failure for her Party as Chair of the NRSC. This was highlighted in her outgoing plea for funds to retire a largely fruitless debt.

The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza notes that the new Chair of the NRSC will be Nevada Senator John Ensign, and Cillizza suggests that "Ensign's ties to gaming interests in Nevada should help from a fundraising perspective."

While Ensign's gambling ties may help in fundraising, I don't know how much those ties will help from a PR perspective. Just as the Mark Foley scandal (and countless other GOP scandals in 2006) depressed turnout for some "family-values conservatives" who would traditionally vote Republican, so too could it depress turnout when Democratic Senatorial candidates highlight how Republican Senate candidate/incumbent X is receiving large sums of funds from the NRSC who in turn raise their funds from casino moguls and hotel/resort owners who make large profits off of adult/pornographic movies aired in hotel rooms. But if the NRSC's bread and butter will be casino owners and pornographers, more power to them.

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