Posted on 09/22/2006 12:07:50 PM PDT by VU4G10
National Republicans are pulling advertising in Arizona for 8th District GOP nominee Randy Graf, who last week won his party’s primary but is trailing by nineteen points in a general election poll released Tuesday by his Democratic challenger.
A spokesman for the Tucson ABC affiliate, where ads were reserved, confirmed that the party committee was pulling them.
The Arizona Democratic Party on Wednesday accused Graf of "associating himself" with former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, citing a posting on Duke’s website but offering no evidence of an actual relationship.
On Thursday, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) sent a letter to the media addressed to National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) Chairman Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y). In it, he cited Graf’s "ties" to Duke and called on the NRCC to stop supporting Graf.
An NRCC spokesman said it has paid for ads on behalf of Graf that are scheduled to run through Oct. 3, but declined to say what it would do beyond that date, citing a policy against discussing campaign strategy. The spokesman reiterated the NRCC’s full support for Graf.
Reynolds responded to Emanuel in a letter arguing that Duke’s posting didn’t amount to an endorsement and detailing several Democratic donors and candidates with criminal pasts or "radical views."
The posting on Duke’s website is titled "Minuteman’s Tough Border Stance Wins Primary!" and links to a U.S. News & World Report article, as well as Graf’s campaign website.
Arizona Democratic Party spokesman Peter Jackson said the posting was on a publicly available site and that the party assumed Graf’s campaign had seen it as well. He said by not asking Duke to remove the posting, Graf is showing he has no problem with Duke promoting his candidacy.
Graf campaign spokesman R.T. Gregg denounced Duke and his views but said the campaign wouldn’t let Democrats dictate its actions. He also said the Graf campaign can’t be responsible for policing the Internet.
Graf won a five-way primary even though the NRCC had supported his GOP opponent Steve Huffman and retiring Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) had criticized him for being too extreme for the district.
Graf and the other three candidates publicly denounced the NRCC one week before the primary for reneging on its promise to abstain getting involved in the primary. But after winning his party’s nomination Sept. 12, Graf flew to Washington, D.C., to meet with national party leaders and proclaimed their "wide support."
The race has long been projected as one of the most competitive in the country.
A spokesman for the Tucson FOX and UPN affiliates said early Thursday evening that the NRCC’s ad purchase was still on the books as running through the general election. The NBC affiliate declined to relay advertising information over the phone, and the CBS affiliate didn’t return calls by press time.
Graf’s campaign said the NRCC hadn’t notified them of any ads being removed.
"The NRCC does what the NRCC does, and quite honestly, in this campaign, it doesn’t make an awful lot of rhyme or reason and hasn’t from the very beginning," Graf spokesman R.T. Gregg said.
Democratic nominee Gabrielle Giffords’s poll showed her leading 54-35, with 5 percent voting for independent candidates and 6 percent undecided.
"The Republicans have recognized that Gabrielle Giffords has broad bipartisan support across southern Arizona," Giffords spokesman Jonathan Neal said.
The NRCC's RINO candidate lost, so it sounds like they're taking their football and going home instead of fighting for, y'know, REPUBLICANS. Which I thought was the point of the NRCC's entire existence.
Way to surrender, guys.
}:-)4
Duke needs to post something about the Democrat.
Moose, Graf's internal numbers are terrible from What I hear, since I live in Tucson. The RNC's plan is to save money here and go after Giffords with Consensous Candidate in 2008. She is very liberal and will be a one termer.
Jim Kolbe is the one destroying Graf's campaign, because he is anti -Gay.
When the candidate's down by 14 points, and has been endorsed by David Duke without a peep of protest from the candidate, the election's over.
Even if Graf loses, he will likely run again in '08. Virtually all of the other candidates were RINO liberals.
I'd like to know what's really going on here.
KKK and stormfront ruining Graf's chances?
Are any debates scheduled?
""Even if Graf loses, he will likely run again in '08. Virtually all of the other candidates were RINO liberals.""
So he wants to be a 2x loser??
You could call him that now, as he lost the primary to the horrid Kolbe in '04. If his defeat is narrow, given all the screwing and sandbagging he has taken in THIS contest, it would be rightfully his to seek a rematch against Giffords. Kolbe himself ran in 1982 for the newly-created seat and lost to the 'Rat, Jim McNulty. So when he ran again in a rematch in '84, he beat the incumbent. Hopefully Graf will surprise the pundits and pull off a win the first time around.
Oh, whoops, lookie there. I just noticed he's one of those pesky principled Conservatives you deride on FR and ought to be "thrown out of the party" in your estimation. That's why most of us like him so much. ;-)
Filed he will run again but lose in the Primary. I hope he wins, but Internals show him down 15 to 20 because of jerk Kolbe and the RINO faction.
Good Point. Kolbe beat McNulty in a Reagan lead year. Kolbe hates Graf because Randy basically outed him.
If Graf loses, it'll be because he didn't cut ties with Duke. I swear these "true Conservatives" spend more time aligning themselves with kooks and reprobates, it's no wonder they turn voters off.
Sky, and the Democrats have Nation Of Islam Keith Ellison in Minnesota. He hates Jews as much as David Duke does.
Are you accusing Randy Graf of having ties to David Duke?
Do you have any evidence to back up that charge?
Doesn't happen that way; once they get a toehold on a district, the incumbent is often unbeatable regardless of the political complexion of the voters. The NRCC is lartely ineffective and irrelevant.
Isn't it more of a case of the KKK and Stormfront latching on to Graf?
Yes, and Duke is a member of Stormfront.
Hell Graf was silent when the democrats spent $175,000 against his primary opponent, Huffman.
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