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Dec

14

More on GOP 527 influence like Freedom’s Watch in OH-05


From Carl Hulse’s On The Hill:

The special election to replace the late Paul Gillmor received quite a buildup, with activists and some analysts predicting Democrats could pull off a huge upset or at least come close. But in the end, the Republican, Bob Latta, beat Democratic challenger Robin Weirauch pretty easily — 57-43 percent. He was sworn in Thursday.

Truth be told, top Democratic strategists never anticipated a win in the race and would have been stunned had one occurred. Their main goal was to make the NRCC spend money and further deplete its bank account. Democrats calculated that House Republicans spent about one-fifth of their cash on hand while Democrats barely tapped party money, spending about $250,000 out of just under $30 million.

But in forcing the investment, Democrats discovered that the spending they might have to worry about next year won’t come from the competing party campaign organization.

To the dismay of Democrats, a well-bankrolled, Republican-leaning outside group weighed in on the race. Freedom’s Watch, an organization with deep pockets guided by former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, injected itself for the first time in a House contest. And it focused on immigration, an issue somewhat afield of the issues it has pushed so far — the Iraq-war, veterans and terrorism.

Always something.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:39 pm December 14th, 2007 in Politics 

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