Remember all that talk last night about how the National Republican Senatorial Committee was cutting bait in the Delaware Senate race, and wouldn’t waste its resources backing nominee (and conservative activist) Christine O’Donnell? Well now the NRSC has taken quite a contrary action — with chairman Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) announcing that the committee is sending her $42,000.
“Let there be no mistake: The National Republican Senatorial Committee - and I personally as the committee’s chairman - strongly stand by all of our Republican nominees, including Christine O’Donnell in Delaware,” Cornyn said in a statement released just now.
“I reached out to Christine this morning, and as I have conveyed to all of our nominees, I offered her my personal congratulations and let her know that she has our support. This support includes a check for $42,000 - the maximum allowable donation that we have provided to all of our nominees - which the NRSC will send to her campaign today.”
A GOP source had previously told us that O’Donnell would have to prove that she is a viable candidate — and her Tea Party backers would have to fund her — before the NRSC got involved. This of course immediately sparked a backlash from those same Tea Party activists. But now the NRSC is getting on board with O’Donnell, despite the clearly long odds.
Here is Cornyn’s full statement:
NRSC Chairman Cornyn’s Statement On Delaware Senate Race
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), released the following statement regarding the Delaware Senate race:
“Let there be no mistake: The National Republican Senatorial Committee - and I personally as the committee’s chairman - strongly stand by all of our Republican nominees, including Christine O’Donnell in Delaware.
“I reached out to Christine this morning, and as I have conveyed to all of our nominees, I offered her my personal congratulations and let her know that she has our support. This support includes a check for $42,000 - the maximum allowable donation that we have provided to all of our nominees - which the NRSC will send to her campaign today.
“We remain committed to holding Democrat nominee New Castle County Executive Chris Coons accountable this November, as we inform voters about his record of driving his county to the brink of bankruptcy and supporting his party’s reckless spending policies in Washington.
“In the weeks ahead, we will decide where to best allocate additional financial resources among the large number of competitive races at stake this November. While it’s not in Republicans’ interest to advertise our spending strategy to our opponents, it’s worth noting that just yesterday, the NRSC’s first independent expenditure ad aired in support of Dr. Rand Paul’s campaign in Kentucky, where we firmly believe that he will win in November.
“It remains to be seen whether national Democrats will provide a similar level of support for many of their nominees, including in key battleground states like Indiana, Ohio, Florida, Arkansas, Illinois, and New Hampshire, among others. The Democrats’ indecision reflects the fact that Republicans are on offense in at least 12 Democrat-held states and we are leading in the polls in seven of those 12 states.
“Finally, on the matter of the New Hampshire Senate race, while the results remain outstanding, we continue to monitor the Republican primary race, and we stand ready to fully support whichever candidate is chosen as the nominee.”
Eric Kleefeld
Eric Kleefeld joined TPM as an intern for the final months of the 2006 midterm elections, and then kept showing up for work. His other interests include guitars, old comic books and the politics of various English-speaking countries.
Facebook Conversations
Questions about commenting with non-Facebook accounts like Yahoo, or other concerns? Click here to read the TPM Commenting FAQ.