Ex-Aides Unload On O'Donnell - Politico

[WillyT]

Ex-aides unload on O'Donnell
By: David Catanese
September 17, 2010 05:32 AM EDT

<snip>

By pulling off arguably the biggest upset of the primary election season Tuesday, Christine O'Donnell shocked the Republican establishment and political pundits who didn’t think her campaign for the Delaware GOP Senate nomination had a chance. But none were more surprised then the staffers who worked for O’Donnell in 2008, when she made the second of two prior unsuccessful bids for the Senate.

The tea party giant-killer who knocked off Rep. Mike Castle Tuesday is barely recognizable to them. They remember a candidate who was less interested in conservative causes than scoring a television deal, one who suggested dodging campaign vendors, believed she could give the keynote speech at the Republican National Convention and fixated on a harebrained idea to distribute tens of thousands of two-ounce suntan lotion packets to voters.

That Christine O’Donnell lost in a landslide to then-Sen. Joe Biden, who was simultaneously running for vice president. Kristin Murray, who left her position in the state party to serve as one of several campaign managers for O’Donnell during that race, said warning bells went off in June 2008 when the two were discussing cell phone plans. "She told me that she thought Joe Biden tapped her phone line," she said.

Alan Moore, who worked on press releases and policy statements for two months during the 2008 bid and now helps run the conservative site Townhall.com, said his conversations with the candidate led him to believe "her priorities were completely out of whack." Moore, who first decided to volunteer for O'Donnell after hearing about her at a meeting of college Republicans, said that at one point, O'Donnell talked to him about winning a lucrative television contract with CNN or Fox News Channel.

"I informed her that most media organizations prohibit their employees from running for office. She didn't seem to understand and was more interested in getting a contract," he recalled. "She was more concerned about getting a TV deal than winning office."

As the campaign entered the summer season, staff was instructed to compile a 10-page document examining how the distribution of tens of thousands of two-ounce suntan lotion packets could shake up the race, according to several members of O'Donnell's 2008 team. O'Donnell's idea: To affix a clever slogan to packets that read: "Don't Get Burned By Higher Taxes. Vote Christine O'Donnell 2008" and distribute them at local parades. "She wanted 100,000 of them," said Moore, who describes himself as “a strong conservative.”

When aides told O'Donnell it was a bad idea and that the cash-poor campaign should conserve its resources for more practical items like signs and bumper stickers, Moore recalled, "She didn't take too kindly to that."

"It was an irresponsible idea," said David Keegan, who served as O'Donnell's financial officer. “And half the people in the street thought she was throwing condoms out of the truck.”

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More: http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=1F08C3F8-18FE-70B2-A800D860B17F3751

:wow:

:kick:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. She really is Palin's "Mini-Me."

Another publicity-seeking, truth-impaired grifter.

[WillyT]

2. Yep...

Moore, who first decided to volunteer for O'Donnell after hearing about her at a meeting of college Republicans, said that at one point, O'Donnell talked to him about winning a lucrative television contract with CNN or Fox News Channel.

Same article.

:shrug:

:hi:

[applegrove]

3. LOL!