Mike Castle Goes Negative Against Tea Party-Backed Christine O'Donnell in Delaware
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski suffered a stunning defeat in the Republican primary last week after she refused to go negative against her Tea Party-backed opponent Joe Miller.
Republican Rep. Mike Castle, running for the open Senate seat in Delaware, doesn't plan on following Murkowski's lead. Castle's campaign is planning to air negative ads against his primary opponent Christine O'Donnell, National Journal's Hotline reports.
Castle, who has represented Delaware's only congressional district for 18 years, has for months been the presumptive Republican nominee for Joe Biden's old Senate seat. Meanwhile, O'Donnell is a perennial candidate in the state.
This year, however, O'Donnell has the backing of the Tea Party Express, the group that helped Miller to success in Alaska. The group has pledged to spend $250,000 for O'Donnell before the September 14 primary. The Tea Party group's money may not have a huge impact in Delaware, which is in the expensive Philadelphia media market. But the group could still manage to mobilize conservative voters in what is expected to be a low-turnout primary.
Hotline reports that Castle's campaign is already planning to spend $180,000 on ads through Sept. 6th, but may reserve its negative ads for the following week.
Still, the Castle campaign has already launched its assault against the Tea Party challenger. The Castle campaign this week launched the website "RealChristine.com," which focuses on O'Donnell's financial troubles. Among her problems is the fact that O'Donnell reportedly amassed thousands of dollars in campaign debt in a 2008 Senate bid.
The "RealChristine" website urges visitors to Tweet the message, "Christine O'Donnell has been hopelessly irresponsible with own finances, not to be trusted w/ ours."
The Republican Party of Delaware is also attacking O'Donnell, alerting the press to examplers of her "reckless and hypocritical behavior."
The eventual Republican nominee will face off against Democrat Chris Coons, a New Castle County executive.
CBSNews.com Special Report: Campaign 2010