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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: D.Austin who wrote (214929)	1/5/2002 9:35:44 AM
From: D.Austin	Respond to of 769670

Group to wage attack on Daschle By CHUCK RAASCH Gannett News Service published: 1/5/02 WASHINGTON - An anti-tax group says it is prepared to spend up to $500,000 on advertisements attacking Sen. Tom Daschle in the South Dakotan's home state this year. The political action committee, Club for Growth, blames Daschle for halting an economic plan pushed by President Bush. Bush wants deeper tax cuts than Daschle, who wants them targeted more toward low- and middle-income taxpayers. Club for Growth, founded in 1999, says it has 4,000 members nationwide. Its founders include investment banker Richard Gilder, National Review publisher Thomas "Dusty" Rhodes and economist Stephen Moore, a former aide to House Republican Whip Dick Armey, R-Texas. If carried out as planned, Club for Growth's advertising campaign will overlay what many expect to be one of the country's most hard-fought Senate races this year. Republican Rep. John Thune is challenging South Dakota's incumbent Sen. Tim Johnson in a race that both sides expect will result in unprecedented spending and media blitzes. A television advertisement by Club for Growth expected to begin airing on South Dakota TV stations late next week will say: "Our economy is hurting. President Bush is leading the bipartisan fight for lower taxes and more economic growth. But in this time of national emergency, one man stands in the way: Tom Daschle." Moore, Club for Growth's president, said Friday that his organization is prepared to keep up the campaign as long as Daschle is viewed as a roadblock to Bush's tax cut. Moore said the ads also are intended to inflict "collateral damage to Tim Johnson, because Tim Johnson is truly Tom Daschle's lap dog in the Senate." Ironically, Johnson voted for a Bush tax cut last spring that Daschle blames in part for an expected new round of deficits. Moore said Johnson voted for the tax cut only as a last-minute decision to help his re-election chances. Spokesmen for Daschle and Johnson portrayed Club for Growth as an out-of-state interloper whose message will be rejected. "We feel that many of these right-wing extremist groups are going to come into South Dakota and try and hurt Tom Daschle and Tim Johnson's credibility," said Steve Hildebrandt, Johnson's campaign manager. "Club for Growth is one of the most extreme right-wing groups in America. They have a strong history of spending millions of dollars of soft money against moderate Democrats and progressive Democrats." But Hildebrandt predicted: "I think South Dakotans are very good, independent thinkers. I don't think they are just going to bow to an out-of-state Washington group like this." Club for Growth funnels campaign contributions into targeted elections where it thinks its anti-tax message can make a difference. The group directed $3 million into 16 congressional races in the 2000 elections and says 10 of the candidates it supported won. Moore said his organization simply will point out that Daschle is opposing an economic plan that Bush and most South Dakotans favor. Pointing out that "$500,000 is a lot of money in a small state," Moore said the organization is prepared to spend it because "the stakes are high." South Dakota, with an estimated 757,000 people, is the country's fifth smallest state in population, behind Delaware. "Number one, it could significantly weaken Tom Daschle," Moore said of his group's ads. "If Tim Johnson loses, it will be an embarrassment for Daschle. This could be the pivotal Senate race for control of the Senate. ... And three, it will diminish Daschle's ambitions to run for president if this race is lost. So the stakes are high for political and policy reasons. "And one of the reasons we are doing this early is to beat the crowd." Moore said PACs like his may be needed to balance what he described as a fund-raising damper the Senate majority leader has tried to put on Thune among Washington political donors and lobbyists. Daschle "has put out the word around town that anybody who gives to John Thune will feel his wrath," Moore said. Daschle spokesman Jay Carson said Daschle "flat out, 100 percent, is denying" Moore's allegation. "He does not play strong-armed politics," Carson said of Daschle. "Everyone in the country knows that Tim Johnson is Senator Daschle's most important race in the country in 2002. Having said that, Senator Daschle will never strong-arm anyone." Carson predicted a negative backlash to Club for Growth. "I don't think a Republican attack group from Washington, D.C., can go into South Dakota and change South Dakotans' minds about their senator," Carson said. argusleader.com