Sen. Elizabeth Dole, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, has scored a recruiting triumph after several failures by getting a top-drawer candidate to challenge Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow in Michigan.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, who announced in February he would not run because of his health, has changed his mind and probably will announce his candidacy. Bouchard is a popular figure in a Detroit suburban county carried by Sen. John Kerry for president last year. But in the fund-raising contest he is far behind Stabenow, who had $4.7 million in the bank as of Sept. 30.
Dole had been criticized inside party ranks for failing to sign up strong Republican challengers against Democratic candidates in several states with vulnerable Democratic incumbents, including Michigan. Bouchard is the strongest possible GOP candidate next to Rep. Candice Miller, who said no.
GOP FRATRICIDE
The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), supporting maverick Sen. Lincoln Chafee for a second term from Rhode Island, is waging an attack campaign against his challenger, Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey, 11 months in advance of the primary election.
The $150,000 advertising buy accuses Laffey of profiting from oil stocks while he complains about oil companies in his campaign. Chafee, who has lagged badly in fund-raising, has not tried to stop the anti-Laffey attack ads, drawing criticism from the Rhode Island news media.
A footnote: Laffey's fund-raising mailer misspells his name as "Laffe" and inexplicably directs donors to "CainforUSSenate.org" -- the defunct website of 2004 Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herman Cain.