Republicans Anonymous: GOP Senate Candidates Go Incognito

07/26/2006

With GOP Senate candidates working harder than ever to avoid being labeled as Republicans, we wanted to provide some examples of how our opponents are bending over backwards to cover up their partisan predilections and ties to the White House.

Minnesota’s “Makeover” Mark Kennedy: This guy has been part of the Republican Congress for three terms but you wouldn’t know it from watching the ad his campaign is debuting today.  In a bio ad, he somehow manages to omit the fact that he is a GOP Member of Congress and has been one of the White House’s most reliable votes in Congress – siding with the President 92 percent of the time.

Maryland’s Michael Steele:  A premier member of Republicans Anonymous – literally.  This afternoon, Steele admitted that he was the unnamed GOP senate candidate profiled in a newspaper column that focused on how Bush is a political albatross for Republican campaigns.  Steele – whose website doesn’t even mention the word Republican – admits that he agrees with Bush on issues like vetoing stem cell research and Iraq but doesn’t want the unpopular President to campaign for him (although he’s happy to have Bush raise money for him, as he did in December).

Missouri’s Jim Talent:  The first round of ads he released last week mentioned the names of more Democrats than Republicans even though he has sided with the White House on 94% of the votes he has cast as a Senator.

Ohio’s Mike DeWine: DeWine has been notorious for going out of his way to avoid being seen with Bush in public, skipping three appearances with Bush in Ohio earlier this year.  His ads tout his independence even though he has voted the way Bush wants 92% of the time.

New Jersey’s Tom Kean Jr: Junior – as we like to call him – was so afraid to be photographed with Dick Cheney that he intentionally got stuck in traffic so that he could avoid a fundraiser with Bush’s right-hand man.

Washington’s Mike McGavick: He skipped an event with Bush in Washington last month, but supports the President on Social Security privatization and Iraq, along with a long list of other issues.

Likely ’08 NRSC Chair John Thune: Try as he may to claim that he was quoted out of context, John Thune said last week that all 2006 GOP candidates should be distancing themselves from Bush.

[Kennedy: Pioneer Press, 7/25/06; CQ Member Profile; Steele: Washington Post, 7/21/06; WBAL, 11/30/05; Talent: AP, 7/20/06; CQ Member Profile; DeWine: New York Times, 2/16/06; Time, 2/26/06; Cleveland Plain Dealer, 3/19/06; Washington Post, Dionne Column, 7/25/06; CQ Member Profile; Kean Jr: Star Ledger, 3/22/06; Trenton Times, 3/22/06;McGavick: AP, 7/17/06; The Columbian, 7/14/06; Tacoma News Tribune, 6/15/06;Thune: AP, 7/19/06]