Jason Horowitz reports that,
a source at the National Republican Senatorial Committee confirmed in a phone interview that the party will not help Schlesinger or any other potential Republican candidate in Connecticut, and it now favors a Lieberman victory in November. “We did a poll and there is no way any Republican we put out there can win, so we are just going to leave that one alone,” said the NRSC source.
An update to the post notes that,
An NRSC spokesman just called to make clear the distinction between actively and openly supporting Lieberman, which they’re not doing, and merely opting not to support a Republican in Connecticut. “The NRSC is not supporting Lieberman,” said Brian Nick, a spokesman for the NRSC. “He is a Democrat who votes 90 percent of the time with the Democrats. The race isn’t competitive at this point — our resources will be used elsewhere.”
A subtle distinction, to be sure. Still, the NRSC wouldn’t have actively supported Schlessinger anyway. Had the netroots insurgency not sprung up and Lieberman had coasted to re-nomination–as everyone expected just a few months ago–he would have been a shoe-in to win re-election. Schlessinger has always been a placeholder. The GOP has enough on its plate this November without backing sure-fire losers.
