{"id":10209,"date":"2018-04-25T07:00:38","date_gmt":"2018-04-25T11:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/?p=10209"},"modified":"2018-04-24T15:39:22","modified_gmt":"2018-04-24T19:39:22","slug":"are-republicans-trying-to-help-aruna-miller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theseventhstate.com\/?p=10209","title":{"rendered":"Are Republicans Trying to Help Aruna Miller?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Adam Pagnucco.<\/em><\/p>\n

Much has been said about the Maryland Republican Party sending out racist mailers<\/a> targeting Congressional District 6 candidate Aruna Miller.\u00a0 The standard interpretation of this seems to be that the GOP sees Miller as a strong candidate and is trying to keep her out of the general election.\u00a0 Indeed, the Washington Post editorial board made that argument<\/a>.\u00a0 But what if the Republicans are actually trying to help<\/em> Miller instead?<\/p>\n

The classic example of intervention in an opposing party\u2019s primary is Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill\u2019s promotion of conservative GOP Representative and eventual opponent Todd Akin.\u00a0 McCaskill spent $1.7 million<\/a> on ads accusing Akin of being \u201ctoo conservative\u201d during his GOP primary, helping boost him past the rest of the field.\u00a0 And that\u2019s not all \u2013 when Akin pulled a successful TV ad in favor of one that flopped, McCaskill schemed to have her pollster contact Akin\u2019s campaign<\/a> to persuade him to re-run the high-performing ad.\u00a0 Once Akin won his primary, McCaskill exploited his weaknesses<\/a> to finish him off and get reelected.<\/p>\n

Two \u201canti-Akin\u201d ads by McCaskill and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.<\/em><\/p>\n