Connecting the Dots

Sen. Elizabeth Dole has been a colossal failure in her position as the head of the NRSC. Perhaps part of the problem is her inability to complete simple children's games. Last week, we learned that Dole has been reduced to begging her colleagues to contribute more to the Committee. Her Senate colleagues are not the reason that fundraising is lagging. There are other, more important, factors.

Now, the NRSC has begun an ad campaign to defend the most liberal member of the Senate against a more conservative challenger. Among other things, Lincoln Chafee did not vote for President Bush, opposed the Bush tax cut, and, most importantly, participated in an unprincipled agreement that compromised the Constitution by tagging the constitutionality of filibusters to the whim of 14 Senators. He is the epitome of RINO. It is because of people like him that the President had an excuse to nominate the least qualified Supreme Court nominee since Abe Fortas. Now, for no other reason than the "R" after his name, the NRSC is running ridiculous negative ads in an attempt to make it seem that Steve Laffey is the liberal in the race.

The NRSC is losing the fund race because its "Leadership" simply does not understand that donors have principle even when politicians do not. We have an agenda, not a Party. Conservative support, financial and volunteer, comes from people who view the Republican Party as a vehicle to advance conservatism, not the other way around. Until Senator Dole and the rest of the Party "Leadership" can connect these dots, they will continue to trail in fundraising, deservedly so.