The Hill: GOP faces tough climate, the NRSC’s Dole concedes

[Adlai Stevenson]

Senate Republicans face a stormy “atmosphere” but will “retain a strong Republican majority” in November, says Sen. Elizabeth Dole (N.C.), the chairwoman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC).

In an hour-long interview with The Hill, Dole repeatedly noted that despite the political climate — made worse by White House communications flops and GOP scandals — Republican challengers are mounting viable bids in Michigan, West Virginia and elsewhere.
   
But she acknowledged that President Bush could have done a better job handling the Dubai ports deal, which has given Democrats an opportunity to look tougher on terrorism than Republicans, and that the president’s poll numbers are less than optimal.

“There are highs and lows for any president,” Dole said, “and I think that you’ll see things change, and it’s still a long way, light-years away, from the election. But the bottom line is races are really run and won at the local and state levels.”

Other campaign-committee chairmen strike a more pugnacious pose than Dole. Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), Dole’s counterpart at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), is viewed as a Brooklyn street fighter unafraid of making tough, politically savvy calls. Last year, for instance, Schumer elbowed aside a more liberal candidate in Pennsylvania to make room for state Treasurer Bob Casey Jr., an abortion-rights foe challenging Sen. Rick Santorum (R).

Similarly, Rep. Tom Reynolds (N.Y.), the chairman of the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC), when asked at a press conference if he fears losing seats this cycle, pounded on the table in front of him, booming: “Combat!” Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), Dole’s predecessor at the NRSC, is known for his football analogies and aggressive politicking. In 2004, the former University of Virginia quarterback led the GOP to pick up four Senate seats.

Dole, the only woman to run any of the campaign committees this cycle, is also the oldest committee head. This year, she turns 70. Unlike many politicians, who go off the record to trash their rivals, Dole goes off the record to pay compliments.

While Republicans have privately voiced concerns about NRSC fundraising — the committee ended 2005 with $9.2 million in the bank versus the DSCC’s $22.4 million — Dole was quick to point out that the Republicans outpaced Democrats in January.

In the first month of the year, the NRSC raised $4.3 million, compared to the DSCC’s $2.1 million. Dole said she and her former Senate campaign manager, Mark Stephens, now NRSC executive director, had replicated her strategy back home, “prospecting” for small donors. “Two million of that $4.3 million was people giving $200 or less,” she said.

Dole added that GOP senators are being asked to pitch in to campaigns more than in previous cycles. She conceded that Democrats have been more successful at getting their members to help struggling Senate campaigns.

Republicans have also had trouble recruiting candidates in such GOP-leaning states as North Dakota, where Sen. Kent Conrad (D) is up for reelection; Florida, where Sen. Bill Nelson (D) is seeking a second term; and New Mexico, where Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D) is running for a fifth term. Republicans have been unable to find a viable contender to take on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.).

Dole stressed that the NRSC does not take sides in Republican primaries — this has not always been the case — but did single out certain Republican candidates who, she said, are running strong races, including Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard in Michigan and former Ameritrade executive Pete Ricketts in Nebraska. Both Bouchard and Ricketts face primary opponents.

“Despite the atmosphere, these outstanding people have declared that they want to run, and it’s been our privilege to work with them,” Dole said.

Dole also praised media mogul John Raese, a West Virginia Republican running against Sen. Robert Byrd (D). The senator won his eighth term in 2000 with 78 percent of the vote.

Echoing her communications department, Dole sought to play up the roles played by liberal interest groups and bloggers such as MoveOn.org and DailyKos in boosting Democratic candidates.

The senator, the first woman to head the NRSC, also said the committee is trolling for female donors, particularly in the business world, who might run for office themselves one day.

And she suggested that the NRSC would be following the campaign strategy mapped out earlier this year by White House political adviser Karl Rove and Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman.

Rove and Mehlman, addressing Republican state party leaders at a meeting in Washington earlier this year, highlighted Democrats’ vulnerability when it came to national security, indicating 2006 would be something of a replay of 2002 and 2004.

Dole, in the interview, observed that Democratic leaders had fought the recently reauthorized Patriot Act and that, in Washington and in liberal bastions across the country, Democrats had skewered Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) for backing the Iraq war.

Dole declined to make any predictions about how the balance of power might shift after the elections. “I don’t really put any numbers down, but let me put it this way,” she said. “When I came into this position, I knew that midterms are tougher. There is no question that midterms are tougher.”

Excerpts from Dole interview

Let’s talk about fundraising [at the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC)].
Dole: We had about 120,000 brand-new donors, people that had never given to the NRSC, and we’re going to continue down this path for some months here.

And the Women’s Majority Network is one that I would love to tell you about. Our senators have gotten very much interested in this.

The network is really an outreach of women business owners or CEOs or opinion leaders or community leaders that have not been so involved in the political arena. So the overall idea is to get women more involved in the political process, and hopefully as they help us learn more about what happens, learn more in the senatorial committee, they’ll become more interested in having a place at the policy table.

Why was January so good for fundraising, but 2005 — not so good?
Dole: [Senate Majority Leader] Bill Frist [R-Tenn.] was down in Florida, and he met all these women who were coming to a Majority Makers event who were all passionate and excited and into it. … Each one of them is going out to tap their networks because they all have networks of people and get them involved … and my view is that we will institutionalize this and once I’m gone after this year there will be a Women’s Majority Network that remains a permanent part of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. So people have noticed this in various parts of the country that these women are very passionate and enthusiastic.

Did Republicans hurt themselves by coming out so strongly against the Dubai project?
Dole: There has been a lot of miscommunication, a lot of confusion, a lot of misinformation there. … My feeling is that a better foundation could have been laid. I mean, that’s just the way I see it.

I think that 45 days provides a time to get all the facts out. … I really think that this will resolve itself. We really need all the information on the table to understand everything about it, which is really important.

The Medicare prescription-drug plan — do you think by the end of the year that will be an asset to Republicans?
Dole: For so many [years], Democrats have talked about getting prescription drugs for seniors, and we [got it passed]. … When you’ve got such a massive change for the first time in 40 years, you’re going to [have a] problem, but I think … they’re doing everything to straighten out where the problems have been, and I’m hearing that we’re making real progress there.