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.
Stormfront caters to non-Jewish white people of European descent from all across the world, and has sections in various languages, especially Dutch. Posters from the United States are the largest contingent, but other English-speaking countries (the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia) are well-represented, as well as the Netherlands and Flanders. The rest of the posters are from other European countries and Latin America, with a few from South Africa. Prominent posters include or included Vonbluvens, Kevin Alfred Strom, Paul Fromm, David Duke, Jurgen Graf. The website also provides internet radio shows hosted largely by site members.
Source: Wikipedia entry: Stormfront
And I gotta love your hypocritical rant against Tancredo "buring bridges with fellow Republicans" when you're out DEMANDING Graf burn bridges with fellow Republicans.
I think Grapf's problem will be that he needs to run against the democrat - and the republican establishment. Kolbe sucked, but the RNC didn't have a problem with him.
I doubt Graf is losing by 20 points - I see too many of his signs out and about for me to believe that. But the RNC is going to do their best to make it a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I guess I don't understand why conservatives need to ralley behind 'moderate' republicans when THEY win, but moderates are free to trash conservatives when WE win.
I do understand that the RNC won't get a penny from me for ever.
People know more about David Duke than they do Soros.
David Duke should stay the hell out politics. Surely he knows he's radio active, so I have to question the reasons behind his support.
My thoughts exactly. He's never been a uniter, always a divider. Because of him, Jindal isn't in Congress.
What are you talking about it was the democrats who put graf over the top with the democrats spending $175,000 against graf's primary ooponent, Huffman.
The democrats wanted graf as tghe nominee and I can see why, with duke's support, graf is a sitting duck.
Bobby Jindal? He's a US Congressman.
Is he? Oh. I know so few names in the House, there's so many of them.
Dear Rahm,
Thank you for writing me to express your concern about our candidate's alleged "ties" to David Duke.
As you well know from media reports, "The Arizona Democratic Party on Wednesday accused Graf of "associating himself" with former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke...but offering no evidence of an actual relationship."
As there has not been one shred of evidence to prove your allegations anything more than a desperate campaign tactic, we do not intend to take action at this time and give credibility to your baseless attacks, but rest assured we intend to terminate our support of Graf upon the Revelation of ANY evidence he has supported Duke in the past.
That being said, I applaud your vigilance in rooting out white supremacists.
As I'm sure you're fully aware, Rahm, your party's current nominee for the U.S. Senate in West Virgina is not only an alledged but an ADMITTED former member of the Ku Klux Klan, who held such ranks as "Exhaulted Cyclops" and the position of "Klegal" for several years, according to his own testimony. Moreover, your Senate nominee has a proven track record of continued support for segregation and even writing letters of approval to the Klan, years after he allegedly "quit" the organization and had claimed to sever all ties to them.
Indeed, your party's leaders in 1958 declined to support his candidacy for that exact reason, and since that time, he has only proven their fears to be correct.
In light of these facts, I call upon you to follow your own criteria and cut all funding and support for Senator Byrd's campaign in West Virgina, and moreover to endorse the Republican candidate in order to prevent a longtime white supremacist from holding office. We will be happy to do the same if any of our candidates are ever proven to have held membership in organizations such as the KKK.
We feel certain that you will maintain a consistent position on the dangers of associating oneself with white supremacists, and are therefore terminating support of Senator Byrd. Please write me back to notify me of this action at your earliest convenience.
Have a nice day.
Yours truly,
Tom Renyolds
Chairman, NRCC
Yes, he is, but I think Duke ruined his run for US senator one time.
I think BSF meant that without duke's interferance Jindal would have been Gov. of Louisiana instead of the useless Blanco.
Heck, Duke used to be a Democrat. He really hasn't changed his ways. Cutting ties with the KKK is one thing, but hitching wagons with Stormfront, posting on their forum articles from his website is a whole other matter.
I recall a race wherein Duke attached himself to Jindal.
David Duke is the kiss of death, but that doesn't mean the candidates he backs are worthless or that they think like Duke.
Well that duke endorsed him says to me that duke likes what he sees and that shouts volumes.
Again no wonder the democrats actively campaigned for graf to get the GOP nomination. they knew he would be an easy opponent especially with his duke endorsement.
Republicans find themselves in trouble from the MSM when they associate with divisive figures. Democrats get away with alot of junk like that because the MSM isn't beating it in to the skulls of average Americans just who it is their people are. Thanks to guys like O'Reilly and Rush, people know just what kind of shyster's Jackson and Sharpton are.
Graf won the primary and it is his duty and the duty of his supporters to see that he is elected. The GOP and RNC should back him 100%.
And David Duke should stay the hell out of politics. He's an all around troublemaker.
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