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By Thomas Posted in Breaking News — Comments (2) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Well, lookie at the email that just jumped into my inbox:

Hello -




I am here in Brookings sent out by NRSC (National Republican Senatorial Committee) Victory 04 - just thought I'd pass on the following information if you haven't seen or heard it. (I am a former White House Staffer, and have been a Press Sec/Communications Director.)




The Daschle campaign is having people claiming to be pastors and ministers calling local South Dakotans asking them whether the fact the "John
Thune is attacking Linda Daschle" bothers them or makes them uncomfortable.




When one constituent peppered the "pastor" with questions about his hometown, where he lived - it was apparent this "pastor" was not from South Dakota at all.




I called the Daschle campaign in Brookings posing as a sympathetic constituent, and they CONFIRMED to me that these calls are being made.




If you wish to post this on Red State, it might be helpful for people to know.

Given this fellow's (or lady's -- no signature) sender address, I was skeptical. I called the South Dakota Justice League and asked if they'd heard about this. I was told that they were hearing the same thing, but that it hadn't been confirmed. I called the Fortess of Evil, who forwarded me to Tom Daschle's Swamp, who in turn confirmed that a "Lutheran Minister" -- whose name they couldn't remember, but who they were sure was local -- had done an auto-call because "John Thune is attacking Linda Daschle." On the other hand, we're getting word (again from Daschle's campaign) that the ad is exclusively "pro-Daschle," and Thune isn't even mentioned.




I think these "ministers" are referring to this, which appears to be an ad campaign aimed at pointing out the conflict presented by Ms. Linda being a lobbyist in the House while her husband is in a leadership position the Senate. (There's a point there, but an indirect one: Lobbying in the House is for a bill her husband would have to vote on, and organize for, in the Senate, eventually.)




My problem with this isn't calling Thune on going after Linda Daschle: There's something there that may be off bounds, unless it directly impacts his ability to govern. It's using a "minister" who may or may not be in-state as a sort of faith-whip I find objectionable. Granted, I find lots of things objectionable about Tom Daschle, but for a man with a tenuous grip on his own religion (a paucity of grip shared by his Presidential nominee), this seems pretty bald-faced.




In fairness, when I got off the phone with the Daschle campaign, they were starting to sound confused. So maybe this is a 527 group. Maybe it's Daschle, and the right hand and left aren't on speaking terms. But for right now, it looks like a cheap way to hit Thune without any, ahem, "nuance."




And we're all saddened by that.




Update [2004-11-1 22:9:33 by Thomas]: And Daschle pre-emptively sues, too! Vote fraud in 2002 was only a warm-up, huh, guys?