Stupid

If today's news of the DCCC taking out a $15 million loan was 'smart,' then the following series of tidbits would likely make the NRSC and its chair, Senator John Ensign, 'stupid.'

A report Wednesday announced that the NRSC was pulling back its resources from the Louisiana Senate race in order to focus on other races, primarily to help GOP incumbents who are currently threatened in states like Minnesota, North Carolina, Mississippi, and Georgia.

Honestly, this move made a lot of sense. While Republicans have been optimistic about knocking off Senator Mary Landrieu, things have not looked as stellar there lately, as polls have had her pulling away. Even though the GOP nominee is well known in the state (and he came highly-touted from Karl Rove who had recruited him into the contest), with Republican senators running neck-in-neck in races across the country, the NRSC obviously decided to focus elsewhere in order to play defense. As a political observer who is admittedly not always neutral, I think this was the right move for Republicans. With meager resources, LA-Sen is just not that winnable right now, and money would be much better spent in Georgia, for example, to save Senator Saxby Chambliss.

However, today came a perhaps not-so-surprising backtrack. The NRSC announced that it was not abandoning its efforts in Louisiana, and was instead buying $500,000 worth of tv ads there.

Frankly, I found this abrupt reversal strange and kind of dumb. The NRSC had made a big decision leave the Bayou State and spend the resources that had earmarked for that race in another contest or contests. They had a plan, and whether it was wise or foolish they should have stuck with it. It shows bad leadership, especially at this late stage, to make such a swift reversal, not to mention it makes you look plain foolish.

Today, the Politico seems to explain what happened:

Strategists with the National Republican Senatorial Committee were planning to pull their cash out of Louisiana’s Senate race on Thursday — until they got a call from the state’s Republican senator, David Vitter.

“Suffice to say, the senator raised hell with the NRSC and told them to get back in and they listened,” said a person familiar with Vitter’s call. The exchange was prompted by reports the committee was withdrawing independent expenditure support from John Kennedy, who is fighting a steep uphill battle against popular incumbent Democratic Sen. Mary L. Landrieu.

The rumor swirling around Democratic circles is that Karl Rove, who prodded Kennedy to run in the first place, has joined Vitter in pressuring the NRSC to stay in play. GOP sources couldn’t say if that was true.

Let me get this straight. The NRSC and its chair, Sen. John Ensign reversed course based on some complaining from Louisiana's junior senator and Karl Rove? Huh?

If you make a decision, you need to stick by it. Doing a complete 180 in the span of a day or two, mostly on the word of David Vitter and Karl Rove -- men who are probably acting out of personal self-interest and pride over the good of their party -- is not smart. No, it's stupid.

Granted, John Ensign was compelled to listen closely to his fellow colleague Vitter. Vitter's words carried even more weight because he probably knows his state better than most. Still, if Ensign and his strategists felt Louisiana was not worth the money, he should have resolutely explained that to Vitter and moved on. I am not here to give unwanted advice to Senate Republicans, but their inital decision was the right one.

There is no doubt that like NRCC honcho Tom Cole, John Ensign has been dealt a bad hand. He took a job no one else wanted. Furthermore, he had nothing to do with the toxic environment that his colleagues now face, many of whom will be ousted next month despite any best efforts by the Nevada Senator.

Still, this whole episode reinforces the widely-held view that Ensign has hardly provided stalwart leadership to the Senate GOP committee. He has been open about pointing the finger at others, and has supposedly not being terribly active in his job, resigned to the GOP's fate of losing several seats. This all will likely not help Ensign's future in the Senate leadership; though, with so many Republicans likely going down to defeat next month, he may get a promotion in the Republican leadership just because his potential competitors will be back home in their states playing golf or fishing.

Needless to say, luck counts for a lot in politics, but you also make your own breaks. Bouncing around like a pinball with less than three weeks to go is hardly the way to run your operation.