Tuesday, September 05, 2006

GOP secretly providing millions into Lieberman campaign

Okay, I found this story off Americablog, so I wanted to go to the source of the story. The original source is Insight on the News, which is published by the Moonie-conservative Washington Times. I don't know how much of this article is true, considering the source. From what mainstream news reports I've read, Republican candidate Alan Schlesinger has been pretty much hung out to dry by the Bush White House, and perhaps the Republican Party. So it is possible that the GOP is secretly funding Lieberman's campaign.

The story is titled GOP secretly channeled millions to Lieberman:

The White House funneled millions of dollars through major Republican Party contributors to Sen. Joseph Lieberman’s primary campaign in a failed effort to ensure the support of the former Democrat for the Bush administration.

A senior GOP source said the money was part of Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove's strategy to maintain a Republican majority in the Senate in November. The source said Mr. Rove, together with Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, directed leading pro-Bush contributors to donate millions of dollars to Mr. Lieberman's campaign for re-election in Connecticut in an attempt that he would be a "Republican-leaning" senator.

"Joe [Lieberman] took the money but said he would not play ball," the source said. "That doesn't mean that this was a wasted investment."

The source said that under Mr. Rove's direction, the GOP has abandoned its Senate candidate in Connecticut, Alan Schlesinger, who has dropped to about five percent in the polls. Mr. Schlesinger has failed to win the support of any national Republican and has virtually no contact with the White House.

In July, the Republican National Committee provided the Republican Party in Connecticut with $120,900, the eighth largest contribution that month. The RNC has raised $70 million, with a special fund designated to help keep its congressional majority.

Mr. Lieberman has raised most of his money from outside Connecticut. The veteran senator has turned his re-election campaign into a test of patriotism and support for the U.S. military presence in Iraq.

The source said that under Mr. Rove's plan, Mr. Lieberman would vote with the GOP on national security issues and help provide the party with a 50-50 split on major legislation. The deciding vote would then be cast by Vice President Dick Cheney.

The one criticism I have with this story is that I would love to know just how much the GOP has been secretly funding Lieberman? This Insight on the News story just claims that the GOP is funding Lieberman, but doesn't say how much the GOP has given. Insight also makes it appear that the Bush White House and Lieberman had made a deal, where the GOP would fund Lieberman's campaign, while Lieberman would support national security issues and possibly the continued Republican war on Iraq. Of course, none of this has been proven yet.

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