“The Republican National Committee sent a fundraising mail piece earlier this month with a return number that leads to a phone-sex line offering “live, one-on-one talk with a nasty girl who will do anything you want for just $2.99 per minute.”

via RNC “census” mailer offers phone sex number

I’m thinking the RNC and the Pope could really do some nice business together.

Remember $400 haircuts? Let’s start doing some multiplication. First, Politico reports:

The Republican National Committee has spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.

According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.

The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September.

The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August.

Despite the obvious hypocrisy of an average hockey mom spending $150 grand on clothing in the midst of an economic crisis, Huffington Post points out some harder numbers:

Palin’s fashion budget for several weeks was more than four times the median salary of an American plumber ($37,514). To put it another way: Palin received more valuable clothes in one month than the average American household spends on clothes in 80 years. A Democrat put it in even blunter terms: her clothes were the cost of health care for 15 or so people.

And even those few Republicans who still have principles aren’t happy about this as Ambinder points out that $150,000 is “one good week of television time in Colorado.” Off the record Republicans are supposedly “utter[ly] disgusted.”

Yet somehow, we still live in a Conservative America. November 5th is going to be an interesting day.

At the RNC.

The Washington Post is reporting that Melhman is stepping aside and that this move was planned regardless of how things went in the mid-term elections. In case you haven’t been following, the Republicans were thumped.

From the WaPo:

Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, who guided President Bush’s reelection campaign to victory in 2004 and saw his party suffer the loss of the House and Senate on Tuesday, will not seek a second term as party leader, informed sources said last night.

Mehlman is leaving his position voluntarily and has not come under any pressure from the White House or state party leaders to vacate his position as a result of Tuesday’s elections. According to a Republican strategist familiar with developments at the RNC, Mehlman told the White House in August that he would leave after the elections.

Mehlman met with reporters yesterday to review the midterm elections at a lunch sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor and was asked whether he planned to stay on as party chairman. He declined to answer directly but said, “I will announce soon what my plan is in the future.”

It is being reported by the Washington Times that Lt. Governor of Maryland, Michael Steele, has been offered the job. Steele was recently thumped by Senator-elect Ben Cardin (D-MD) and to the best of my knowledge, Steele has yet to officially concede that race.

This has nothing to do with Bill Maher officially “outting” Mr. Melhman on CNN, right?

This just about says it all for campaign 2006. Democrats are working to get out the vote and ensure that all votes are counted.

Republicans go negative right until the end.

Day 32
1:14 PM CT.

Good afternoon, friends. We are departing Sioux City, Iowa on a truly gorgeous day. It’s about 55 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. We’re going to take the scenic route down to Des Moines where we’ll spend the weekend.

On the drive down I plan on reaching out to a number of people for interviews and I am looking forward to trying to get to the final gubernatorial debate tomorrow in downtown Des Moines.

Did you see the new RNC ad “Stakes?” (once it’s on Youtube I will change the link…I hate linking to the RNC.) It’s a copy of the “Daisy Ad” from Johnson’s campaign and it’s truly shameful. All they have left is to scare Americans and I hope that the American people are smart enough to realize that this Administration has made us less safe when it comes to terrorism. Makes me sick, really.

We’ve just uploaded a bunch of new photos so check them out on the sidebar of the page or on Flickr. I will put another post up tonight after we arrive in Des Moines.

And for the record, if you need a haircut I would not trust “Great Cuts.” They just weren’t that great…

Before:

After:

-Matthew

There’s blood in the water for Republicans. Adam Nagourney of the New York Times has a piece this morning outlining the Republicans’ new strategy for 2006: stop the bleeding! Republicans have historically had the financial advantage leading up to elections and this has allowed them to stay competitive and fight for all seats throughout the country.

While they still have the financial edge, it seems that the GOP is looking to cut its losses and and stop the Democratic onslaught. This strategy will most likely have a significant impact on Sherrod Brown in Ohio where he is beginning to pull away from Senator Mike DeWine.

From the NYTimes:

Senior Republican leaders have concluded that Senator Mike DeWine of Ohio, a pivotal state in this year’s fierce midterm election battles, is likely to be heading for defeat and are moving to reduce financial support for his race and divert party money to other embattled Republican senators, party officials said.

The decision to effectively write off Mr. DeWine’s seat, after a series of internal Republican polls showed him falling behind his Democratic challenger, is part of a fluid series of choices by top leaders in both parties as they set the strategic framework of the campaign’s final three weeks, signaling, by where they are spending television money and other resources, the Senate and House races where they believe they have the best chances of success.

Republicans are now pinning their hopes of holding the Senate on three states — Missouri, Tennessee and, with Ohio off the table, probably Virginia — while trying to hold on to the House by pouring money into districts where Republicans have a strong historical or registration advantage, party officials said Sunday. Republicans also said they would run advertisements in New Jersey this week to test the vulnerability of Senator Robert Menendez, one of the few Democrats who appear endangered.

To read the rest of the NYTimes article click here.

This thing is FAR from over and now is the time to get to work to ensure that Democrats capitalize on this momentum.

have announced that their 2008 Presidential Convention will be held in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul.