“Christine O’Donnell is only on one state’s ballot this year, but it would be easy for voters elsewhere to think otherwise. Democrats in some of the nation’s most competitive Senate races are invoking the Delaware Republican Senate nominee’s name almost as frequently as their actual opponents…

“In all these cases, the implication was clear: My opponent agrees with the wacky lady who is regularly spoofed on Saturday Night Live and in various YouTube parodies. The result is to position O’Donnell as the election cycle’s signature fruitcake…

“‘If you’re winning a campaign, you try to talk about the issues. If that doesn’t work, attack the character of the candidate you’re running against,’ said Republican consultant John Feehery. ‘If that doesn’t work, try to associate your opponent with somebody else – and if that doesn’t work, blame Christine O’Donnell.'”

***
“Her shocking victory in the Delaware Republican primary was a breakthrough for the conservative Tea Party movement that has up-ended U.S. politics. But while her grassroots fund-raising has been more than respectable, O’Donnell’s tense relations with mainstream Republicans and her floundering campaign have led bigtime donors to shun her, albeit quietly…

“‘Were American Crossroads to invest there (in Delaware), they could not invest in Colorado, where the polls are within the margin of error,’ [Crossroads spokesman Jonathan] Collegio told Reuters. He said that if O’Donnell’s poll numbers improve markedly in the last days of the campaign, it is possible Crossroads could reassess its position. ‘But at the moment, spending money there would mean not spending money in races which are legitimately competitive,’ he said…

“Even the Tea Party Express, the Sacramento-based national organization that launched a well-financed, late-stage advertising campaign which helped O’Donnell win her primary race, has dialed back its financial support for her.

“Documents filed with the Federal Election Commission show that between O’Donnell’s September 14 primary victory and mid-October, the Tea Party Express paid for around $11,000 in e-mail blasts and radio ads supporting her. By comparison, records show the group spent more than $64,000 in support of Angle during that period. (Tea Party Express representatives did not respond to messages requesting comment.)”

***
“Christine O’Donnell said she would close the gap in the Delaware Senate race if national Republicans would give her additional support, but that type of help is not going to come, according to NRSC Chairman John Cornyn…

“The Texas Republican added that the GOP was behind O’Donnell and had already contributed to her campaign. He wished O’Donnell well but stressed that the NRSC’s resources are needed elsewhere.

“Cornyn also suggested that perhaps O’Donnell was a bit too green for the party saying she is ‘new to the kind of scrutiny that she’s getting, and it’s tough.'”

***
Donation link here.