Republicans are hoping to make lemonade out of the fundraising lemons they've been bombarded with by frontrunning Democrats.
Hours after N.Y. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign announced it has pocketed a cool $27 million in fundraising donations over the past 3 months, the Republican National Committee launched an e-mail campaign based on her fundraising success, hoping to motivate the GOP faithful to cough up more campaign cash.
Republicans--who for years feasted on political donations while Democrats drooled but are now saddled by an expensive war, an uneven economy and an unpopular president--now watch as Democrats eat their lunch.
"Dear Republican," the e-mail solicitation reads. "The Hillary Clinton juggernaut keeps on rolling."
"The Democrats have taken in $100 million more than Republicans this year. And this doesn't even count the hundreds of millions of dollars Big Labor, Hollywood elites and liberal groups like MoveOn.org are raising to defeat Republicans in 2008."
"If Republicans don't close the fundraising gap with the Democrats by the end of this year, we will not be able to defend our candidates from their vicious attacks and outright distortions."
The e-mail asks recipients to "make a secure online campaign contribution" of from $25 to $1,000 "to help us counter the Democrats' massive campaign war chests."
The e-mail smacks around Clinton's recently announced universal health care plan-- somewhat dishonestly--as "one-size-fits-all" (her plan offers lots of choices), and chides her for not vigorously denouncing a MoveOn.org ad that mocked the congressional testimony of the general in charge of U.S. troops in Iraq, General David Petraeus, as "General Betray-Us."
--Martin C. Evans in Washington