Senate Democrat Candidate: My Party Is Sabotaging My Campaign

The Democratic Party is not having much luck in
the midterm elections. Public opinion
polls and statistical models
have been showing a clear path to victory for Republicans in both
houses of Congress.

One of the most interesting Senate races has been, of all
places, in South Dakota, where a three-way battle between Democrat
Rick Weiland, Republican Mike Rounds, and Independent
(ex-Republican) Larry Pressler is taking place. The Huffington
Post has highlighted the “wildly inconsistent polls,
a flood
of new advertising money from the national parties and
PACs, and renewed interest in an immigration
and corruption scandal from Rounds’ gubernatorial days,”
and the National Journal points out the
tipping power of the state’s Native American vote, all of which
indicate this election could come down to a photo finish.

The race just got even more interesting, because Weiland has
accused his own party of sabotaging his campaign. From the

Argus Leader:

Weiland said the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s ads
attacking Republican incumbent Mike Rounds have backfired and hurt
him.

“You put negative on a candidate and you put your disclosure at
the bottom that says ‘Paid for by the Democratic Senate Campaign
Committee,’ the Democratic candidate’s going to get blamed for
that,” Weiland said.

But Weiland went a step further and said this wasn’t just an
inadvertent side effect of the negative ads. He said it was
deliberate — an attempt to sabotage him and boost independent Larry
Pressler.

“My national party — that I’m a member of — (was) trying to
drive votes to Larry Pressler and trying to drive up my negatives,”
Weiland said.

A spokesman for the DSCC declined to comment on Weiland’s
charges.

The DSCC announced earlier this month that they
would spend
$1 million in the South Dakota Senate race — but that the
money would be spent primarily on attacking Rounds. Experts
speculated that the party would be content with either Weiland or
Pressler winning, as Pressler, though an independent, could be
persuaded to caucus with the Democrats.

Significantly, Weiland does not
have a good relationship with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid,
whereas Pressler does. Weiland went so far as to say last week
during a debate that if he were elected he wouldn’t vote for Reid
to maintain his position as majority leader.

The Washington Post
states that Weiland has raised only about one-fourth the funds
of his Republican counterpart. This morning Politico

reported that the National Republican Senatorial Committee is
cancelling over $300,000-worth of advertisement cash from Rounds,
not because they’re sabotaging him, but because they figure he’s
already won.