On Friday we wrote about a Chris Coons press release criticizing Castle for attending yet another stimulus event. Castle’s campaign had a rather bizarre response:
The fact is that the bike lane was funded by the Delaware Department of Transportation. It is true that Rep. Mike Castle is a strong supporter of recreation opportunities in this area, including the bike lane on the bridge, and has secured funding for the coordinated federal, state, and local effort to create the C&D Canal Recreation Trail.
“Congressman Castle has fought for and secured federal dollars for this area of Delaware over the years and continues to support the state’s needs for federal funds that have already been appropriated. Voters in Delaware know what the Coons campaign does not — The nation is in debt and the rate of spending that he supports has got to stop in order to get the economy back on track. Chris has spent $360,000 of New Castle County residents’ tax dollars in lobbying fees to his campaign donors and regularly raises our taxes, it is no wonder that he doesn’t realize that we are in a budget crisis.
I’m not even sure what he’s saying – is he blaming Chris Coons for the U.S. deficit? I guess Mike Castle wants you to ignore his 18 years in Washington.
I’m a bit surprised that Castle is feeling some heat from Christine O’Donnell’s campaign as well. This time, though, he relied on the Delaware GOP to have a response:
Back in Delaware, O’Donnell has been cited repeatedly lying to voters and manipulating her own political history. Recently, O’Donnell has claimed that she won two out of three counties in Delaware in her 2008 race against then-Senator Joe Biden. Election results show that Biden won overwhelmingly against O’Donnell and that she did not win any counties in the state of Delaware. In addition to this blatant spin on reality, O’Donnell yesterday told Politico that she had not sought the endorsement of the Constitution Party of Delaware. But last week, The News Journal reported that O’Donnell had pushed to be on the November ballot for the election, quoting Constitution Party Chairman Pell Sherman.
“O’Donnell is hoping that voters have a short-term memory and ignore her record in Delaware,” said Tom Ross, Delaware GOP Chairman. “Sadly, Christine continues to avoid the tough questions and will spin her own reality with the hope that the national press won’t catch on.” He went on to note how O’Donnell is seldom seen in Delaware and never misses an opportunity to seek endorsements and coverage outside the state.
Her campaign appears to be getting desperate as the Republican primary is only two weeks away. The most recent Rasmussen poll has shown her support drop by five points in only a month to 36 percent – robbing her of the talking point that she would beat Democrat Chris Coons in November.
O’Donnell’s campaign is no doubt desperate but why is Castle paying attention to her at all?