Not satisfied with merely taking the seat, Republicans decided to craft their seemingly inevitable win into a propaganda victory, spinning the campaign as a referendum on Obama and his agenda. “This election ... is a giant opportunity for us to let America know that America is on our side,” said House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio). Republican National Chairman Michael Steele, under fire from his losing battle with Rush Limbaugh and a string of disastrous media appearances, said he was in the “business of winning seats” and staked his chairmanship on the race. “This will be a battle royale,” he said. “We’ve come to play and we’ve come to win.” Eighty-two Republican House members wrote checks for Tedisco, leading a NRCC spokesman to brag, “This is not only an indication of Jim Tedisco’s strength as a candidate, it’s proof that members are invested in our overall plans to fight back to the majority.”
Republicans were certainly invested in the race. The RNC spent $280,000 compared to $10,000 from the Democratic National Committee, and the NRCC invested $871,681 to the DCCC’s $591,591. Outside forces favoring Tedisco dumped $2.06 million into the race, compared to just $1.23 million from pro-Murphy groups. And Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani, among others, lent their fundraising heft to their party’s candidate.
Given the money, the candidate and the district, the election should’ve been a slam-dunk. But Tedisco was a … how do you say? Oh, yeah: Republican. And after hemming and hawing for weeks when questioned about whether he’d support Barack Obama’s stimulus package, Tedisco’s final answer — “No!” — was proof to his district’s voters that he would not stand up as an independent, responsible voice for his district in Congress.