GOP Desperation Tactics

Found via Talking Points Memo, here is a link  to an article about fundraising from blogs:

GOP criticizes Democratic House candidate's Internet fund-raising

Posted on Thu, Mar. 25, 2004
CHET BROKAW

Associated Press

PIERRE, S.D. - Republicans have accused Democratic U.S. House candidate Stephanie Herseth of maintaining a secret Web page to receive campaign donations raised from ads on liberal groups' Internet sites.

But a Herseth campaign official scoffed at the charge, saying the Web page is not secret and can be found easily with a standard search of the Internet.

Herseth faces Republican Larry Diedrich in a June 1 special election to fill the vacancy left when Bill Janklow resigned as South Dakota's lone member of the U.S. House.

Jason Glodt, executive director of the South Dakota Republican Party, said the Herseth campaign arranged the special Internet donation site to prevent most South Dakotans from knowing about Herseth's relationship with such liberal groups.

The Herseth Web page takes campaign donations from people directed there from Internet sites called "blogs," which are online bulletin boards that feature journals, opinionated articles and messages.

[...]

"I think the real point is you judge a person by the friends they keep, and look where she's focusing her fund-raising efforts," Glodt said. "Anybody can look at these blogs and the content, and realize the values they are promoting are completely contradictory to the South Dakota values she purports to represent."

Five comments:  First, where do they get off saying that blogs feature "opinionated articles"?  

Second, who cares if the blogs that carry the ads have content that is "contradictory to the South Dakota values she represents"?  That is like criticizing a candidate who runs ads in a newspaper, when some of the articles in the newspaper are objectionable.  Are we to infer that the opinions expressed in the blogs represent the opinions of the candidate? 

Third, what good would a fundraising page be if it were secret?  That would be like NPR stopping all broadcasting during their fund drive. 

Fourth, if using the internet to solicit donations is so wrong, why does Larry Diedrich solicit donations on his main campaign site?

Fifth, is it true that most South Dakotans do not know about Herseth's backers?  on the Daily Rebuplic web site, a newspaper in Mitchell, South Dakota, readers can leave comments.  After an article on the campaign, a reader had this to say:

Reader Comments

Posted: Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Article comment by: Marcy Mattern

I really enjoyed the article about the upcoming congressional race. I would however like to see more information about Larry Dietrich. I wonder why you haven't reported that Ms. Herseth is being supported by Emily's List, NARAL and Planned Parenthood?

Perhaps Dietrich's campaign would be served better if he could come up with some substantive issues.  Complaining about internet fundraising is a non-issue.