With just a little more than 24 hours before the books close on first-quarter fundraising for U.S. House and Senate candidates, the re-election campaign of Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., is apparently banking on the "truth" for some extra campaign cash.
In an e-mail appeal sent out to supporters today, the Leahy campaign used Leahy's call for a "truth commission" to investigate the goings of the departed Bush administration as an incentive for donors to send some money Leahy's way.
Attached to the top of the e-mail is this note: "Tomorrow's end-of-quarter fundraising report will be used to gauge the level of public support for Senator Leahy and his efforts in the Senate.
Please contribute today -- and let's make sure we show our support and enthusiasm for Senator Leahy's strong, principled leadership." (Underlined emphasis from Leahy campaign e-mail).
The rest of the e-mail contains a letter from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., talking about what a good idea the truth commission is and how the idea is gathering support down in Capitol Land, including a Pat on the back from the editorial pages of the Washington Post.
"It's critical that we understand all that went wrong over the past 8 years of the Bush-Cheney Administration so we can be sure it never happens again. And there's one Senator who's leading the charge in that fight: Patrick Leahy." Whitehouse wrote.
Hey, all's fair and politics and war. But does the idea of using the truth commission initiative to score campaign cash seem a tad unseemly to you, or no?
FYI: Leahy already had $1,218,785 in his campaign account at the end of 2008, with no Republican opponent yet on the horizon for 2010.
-- Sam Hemingway
