It's a familiar story: Republicans, facing a special election for Congress, choose a nominee who's either underwhelming (Ron Estes), deeply flawed (Greg Gianforte), or downright unelectable (Roy Moore), jeopardizing if not dooming their chances on deep red turf that they shouldn’t have to sweat for a single moment. Now the latest source of worry for the GOP is state Rep. Rick Saccone, the party's choice in the March 13 special election to replace Rep. Tim Murphy, who resigned in disgrace last year from Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District.
According to Politico's Elena Schneider, unnamed Republican operatives are fretting about Saccone's fundraising, but his inability to bring in the bucks was well-known long before local officials tapped him at a convention in November. As we noted at the time, Saccone had been running for Senate all year but had only amassed a pitiful $52,000 war-chest, yet Republicans selected him anyway. Either they were totally incompetent, didn't have better options, or were simply hoping Saccone's finances would pick up once he became the party's nominee, none of which exactly project strength.
Speaking to Schneider, one nameless GOP strategist went even further, saying, "There's enough out there with Saccone to make him so wacky that Republicans—particularly moderate Republicans in the suburban areas—say this isn't my cup of tea." That was a key part of the brew that sent Moore down to defeat. Is that same Darjeeling percolating now? It may just be, especially since Democrats have rallied around a strong candidate of their own, former federal prosecutor and Marine veteran Conor Lamb.
Indeed, fears about Saccone are apparently so grave that two unnamed GOP sources tell Schneider that local Republicans are trying to get state Sen. Guy Reschenthaler to run in the regularly scheduled election next year instead. That could, however, prove extremely awkward. Reschenthaler lost the nomination to Saccone on the second ballot at November's gathering, but if he wants to try again, he'd have to file by March 6—a week ahead of the special election. What's more, Reschenthaler would have to start circulating petitions well in advance of that date, so the specter of a replacement candidate would hover over the race for weeks.
Reschenthaler himself isn't commenting, and perhaps this is part of an effort to lower expectations for Saccone. If so, though, Republicans are doing an A-plus job poormouthing their D-plus candidate.