Rush Limbaugh’s remarks on Fox ad led to interest and money for McCaskill, they say.
By STEVE KRASKE and DAVID GOLDSTEIN The Kansas City Starp
Missouri Democrats aren’t often in a position to thank Rush Limbaugh for much of anything.
But Wednesday, Democrats were showering the conservative radio commentator with gratitude for his hand in Claire McCaskill’s narrow win over Jim Talent in Missouri’s U.S. Senate race.
“I’d call it an unexpected gift,” said longtime Democratic activist Woody Overton.
“We have Rush Limbaugh to thank for a lot of things,” McCaskill campaign manager Richard Martin said.
Limbaugh acknowledged his role on his program Wednesday in response to a call from “Connie from Blue Springs.” She said she was devastated by McCaskill’s win.
He responded that he appreciated McCaskill giving him partial credit for her victory and said she should say that as often as possible.
Limbaugh had injected himself in the campaign at a pivotal moment in late October when most polls showed Talent with a slight lead, although statistically within the margin of error. On Oct. 23 on his nationally syndicated program, Limbaugh chastised actor Michael J. Fox, who has Parkinson’s disease.
Limbaugh accused Fox of “exaggerating the effects of the disease” in a 30-second TV ad he cut for McCaskill. In the spot, Fox urged voters to back McCaskill because of her support of early stem-cell research.
In the emotionally powerful spot, Fox waves back and forth across the screen as the result of his condition.
Limbaugh called Fox “shameless” and said: “Either he didn’t take his medication or he’s acting, one of the two.”
He later said, “I will bigly, hugely admit that I was wrong.” But Limbaugh’s remarks and his mocking waving on camera sparked a national firestorm that resulted in the ad getting massive play on news programs as well as the Internet video site YouTube.com.
“All it did was to remind people — moderates — how ridiculous Rush Limbaugh is and how far to the right he is and how far out of the mainstream he is,” Martin said.
Within a couple of days, McCaskill was touting an unexpected cash infusion into her campaign of more than $100,000, a total that may have grown to as much as $500,000, aides said. That money came at a time when the campaign was cash-starved. McCaskill had to lend her cause nearly $500,000 to buy TV ads in the race’s closing days.
Just as significantly, it gave the campaign a small boost in the polls at a time when neither candidate could separate from the other. According to daily Democratic tracking polls, McCaskill moved from trailing Talent by a point on Oct. 23 to leading him by 3 four days later. Independent polls showed a slight tilt toward McCaskill following the Fox controversy.
The race remained within the margin of error but the bump, aides said, gave the Democrat some breathing room for the campaign’s final days. They anticipated that Republicans who had been withholding support for Talent based on their frustration with President Bush would return to their GOP roots.
“We were giddy,” said McCaskill adviser Steve Glorioso.
Talent aides were unavailable for comment Wednesday, as was Limbaugh. But Missouri GOP spokesman Paul Sloca downplayed the significance of Limbaugh’s remarks, saying campaigns have lots of tide changes and that the “national Democratic wave” made the difference.
McCaskill thought a turning point came the week before at the Oct. 18 debate in Kansas City. At that forum, the last of five face-to-face encounters, McCaskill confronted Talent with what she described as a series of negative attacks that Talent had launched that included accusations about the business activities of her husband.
The Democrat insisted that she had known Talent for years and that he was uncomfortable with the strident tone his campaign had taken.
“And I think speaking that out loud and saying it — he doesn’t really believe it — that resonated with people,” McCaskill said in an interview with The Star. “That felt like a turning point.”
Talent insisted at the time that he thought the questioning was fair game.
The decision to challenge Talent was a “gut call” that McCaskill made herself, Martin said.
Other key decisions also played a role. The choice to deploy McCaskill’s mother, Betty Anne McCaskill, to outstate Missouri appeared to pay dividends, aides said. At campaign’s end, Betty Anne McCaskill cut an ad that played only in outstate Missouri that featured her looking into the camera and defending her son-in-law against Talent’s attacks.
“She was the secret weapon,” Glorioso said.
Another unexpected boost came in Kansas City, McCaskill’s former home, where she launched her political career as a state representative in 1983. Voters cast 92,562 ballots in the city proper, topping the total in St. Louis City by 821 votes. That was one of the first times Kansas City is thought to have outpolled St. Louis in a general election.
McCaskill won 77 percent of those Kansas City votes.
posted
"[Limbaugh] responded that he appreciated McCaskill giving him partial credit for her victory and said she should say that as often as possible."
More proof that Rush is only interested in Rush.
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