This is actually a fun story for a Saturday morning. Ralph Reed, the GOP's boy wonder, is having a really hard time in the race for Lieutenant Governor....this is the race that was going to launch his political career. Instead, he's running in to the Jack Abramoff buzz saw. Reed, who used to run the Christian Coalition, is one of the more nefarious GOP operatives. The backlash couldn't happen to a better guy:
In recent months, it was reported that Reed's public relations and lobbying businesses received $4.2 million from his longtime friend Abramoff to mobilize Christian voters to fight the opening of casinos that would compete with Abramoff's Indian tribe clients.The Georgia GOPers are turning against Reed, who was the state party chair:
Now, Reed's little-known rival for the Republican nomination, fellow conservative Casey Cagle, is outpacing him in fundraising, and a recent poll shows Cagle could be as strong a candidate as Reed against a Democrat.
Reed has not been charged with a crime. But analysts say the boyish-looking, 44-year-old darling of the conservative movement and former adviser to GOP presidential campaigns appears to be in political trouble because of his ties to Abramoff, who pleaded guilty in January to corruption charges and admitted swindling his Indian clients.
On Friday, 21 of Georgia's 34 Republican state senators - all Cagle supporters - signed a letter urging Reed to withdraw from the race, saying his involvement in the Abramoff scandal "threatens to impact the entire Republican ticket."Now, don't put it past the GOP to still nominate Reed. That'll give us more time to kick him around -- and he deserves all he gets.
