Mehlman Pushes Back; Says GOP Is Committed To Ohio

Yes, RNC chairman Ken Mehlman's conference call with Ohio reprorters this morning was "hastily arranged." Mehlman called Adam Nagourney's Page 1 New York Times article "very inaccurate" but refused to "get more specific" because he didn't Democrats to read from his playbook, he said.

Nagourney reported that Republicans "are moving" to downsize their committment to Ohio after many of the party's senior strategists concluded that the Senate race there was unwinnable -- that incumbent Mike DeWine would mostly likely be defeated. Mehlman doesn't seem to dispute that sentence.

But Nagourney goes further, implying that the "decision," wrote Nagourney, to "effectively write off" Ohio has already been made. That -- Mehlman rejects.

In plain language, there's a distinction between reducing resources and getting out.

Republican strategists familiar with "internal deliberations" Nagourney cites do not dispute the premise of his article -- that the RNC, in particular, is preparing to adjust its spending to target races which have a better chance of falling their way. They do dispute the notion that the White House, RNC and NRSC have effectively written off the state, noting that national Republicans still have reserved millions worth of advertising time there and will not divert an ounce of GOTV machinery to another state. [MARC AMBINDER]

The distinction is that the GOP will get more electoral bang for their bucks if they marginally reduce their spending in Ohio. Of course, both premises could be simultaneously true: the RNC might stay engaged even if they think they have no chance at winning. Getting out of Ohio would be noticed, and it would be, pace the reaction to Nagourney's article, an awful portent for the party's chances of keeping control of the Senate.

One other thing to consider: "internal deliberations" implies that there are disagreements about strategy and tactics. Which is true. It's possible that some senior Republican officials want to get out of Ohio and others want to stay in. Because there are various Republican committees -- the RNC, the RNC's IE, the NRSC, the state party -- some may well stay engaged while others may skedaddle for Virginia.

Mehlman, in his conference call:

Mehlman: “Ohio is and remains an incredibly top priority for us. It’s one I’m very confident Mike DeWine can and will win. The evidence of our commitment is that we’re putting our money where our mouth is. No state will receive more resources from the Republican National Committee than Ohio. From this point forward, we will spend millions more on turnout and millions more on message. We have a huge staff. And intend and have right now a very aggressive program.”

Chairman Mehlman Highlights RNC Commitment To OH, Refutes Inaccurate The New York Times Article:

RNC Chairman Mehlman: “I enjoyed visiting with a number of you last week when I was in town with Senator DeWine. We did a press conference and had a chance to meet with a lot of the county chairs and grassroots activists. What I said then, I still strongly believe which is that Mike DeWine can and will win. I believe that for a lot of different reasons. One of them is the incredible grass roots energy. In four days of last week we saw the same level of grassroots energy in terms of volunteer contacts that we saw in the final five days leading up to the 2004 election.”

• Chairman Mehlman: “What I’m about to do though is something I don’t do, and that is I don’t believe in giving away your game plan before the game, but because there is a very inaccurate story in The New York Times I am going to provide some information. Let me walk through some facts and then open it up to questions. I don’t intend to get more specific than on this call, again, because I don’t believe in giving away the game plan but I do believe in correcting the record.”

Chairman Mehlman: “While all of this is important, why do I think Mike DeWine wins at the end of the day? First, it’s a race that polls indicate, most recently the University of Akron poll, is an even race. He has a huge cash advantage and if you look at the issues, which is what people focus on the last three weeks of the election, leading up to any election. .. People know Senator DeWine, they like Senator DeWine and they respect Senator DeWine and that’s generating tremendous energy.”

Chairman Mehlman: “This is an enormously important state for a number of other reasons too. It’s enormously important because of the Blackwell campaign. It’s enormously important because of a number of the congressional races which are obviously, excuse me, highly competitive.”

Chairman Mehlman: “So I wanted to correct the record, make clear that Ohio remains a top priority. And as I said, no state will receive more resources out of the RNC anywhere in the country than the state of Ohio this year. And there is millions more to spend in the coming three weeks, both on turnout and on message.”

Q&A With Chairman Mehlman On OH Senate:

Question: Steven Koff: “Ken, you said the RNC will continue to spend, and I wondered if you could put a figure on that. But in addition you did not mention the NRSC, is it going to continue spending …?”

Chairman Mehlman: “The NRSC is very committed to this race as well and we work in partnership with them. I should say National Republicans is a better way to phrase it. In terms of a figure, no, I don’t believe in giving away the play book, at all. But that article is the case that we are pulling it out and we have conceded it as inaccurate and as I said, we’re putting our money where our mouth is.”

Chairman Mehlman: “The NRSC is absolutely committed to this and is spending significant resources there, absolutely. They like us, don’t believe in giving, neither of us believe in giving away our play book. The only reason I’m doing this, which I’ve never done in many years of campaigns, is to push back on an inaccurate story.”

Question: Paul Tisley: “Assuming the party officials quoted or referred to, anonymously in the article knew what they were talking about, I’m assuming that this represents a change in position, you seem to be saying that you have sort of been forced to tip your hand in a way you don’t normally do. If in fact that was false, what they said, could you tell us who those mistaken people were?”

Chairman Mehlman: “I don’t know who they are. If they were people that were party officials they would no longer be party officials because they were passing out a false story. But I don’t know who they are. My experience is that people that want to tell you things anonymously, there is sometimes a reason for it. Sometimes the reason for it is because they aren’t telling you all of what is happening.”

Question: Carl Cameron: “Carl Cameron from the steps of the statehouse in Columbus. Good Morning. So just to revisit the distinctions between the RNC and NRSC … Can you just sort of perhaps address to the extent the NRSC is always looking at its day to day, hour to hour strategy and allocation of resources … Can you sort of discuss in what ways the NRSC could perhaps move some of its materials away from Ohio and your back filling?”

Chairman Mehlman: “No, Carl the fact is the way it works is we at the NRSC work on these operations very much as partners, hand and glove together. And we both contently look at everything we constantly look at what campaigns are able too fund themselves and what other things are out there, and we constantly make adjustments day by day up some days, down some days, and around some other days. So I am not going to get into specifics other then to say there is a very strong commitment from both national parties to provide some support to win this race we both absolutely positively strongly believe we can and will win this race and I say that based on having spent the day meeting with the Senator, meeting with key congressional members, meeting with key party chairs, meeting with state party officials and meeting with grass roots activists. I am not taking anybodies word for it, I was there on Wednesday and saw it myself, and as a result of that visit as well as data I am confident.”

Question: “So what I want to make sure is that it is accurate in your mind for us to say that regardless of what the NRSC is doing the parties commitment remains intact both financially ...?”

Chairman Mehlman: “I think it is accurate to say that both the NRSC and the RNC remain strongly committed to helping Senator DeWine win this race with significant amounts of resources, and that we work hand in glove and that we don’t get into internal deliberations and strategies.”

Question: Jim Tankersley: “Good Morning Mr. Chairman, this is Jim Tankersley Toledo Blade. I am curious the story references internal polls that show Brown surging in the race and Republicans not being able to beat him up as much they want to on National Security, are you seeing that?”
Chairman Mehlman: “I am not going to comment on specific polls, I am not seeing that. When I look at polls the one thing I do and one of my reasons I am a big fan of realclearpolitics.com website is they put on averages. I look at polls and the recent polling I see indicates that it is a very competitive very close race. I call your attention to the University of Akron poll that indicated a dead even race at 47 percent, I call your attention to the Zogby poll that indicated it to be a dead even race, the Plain Dealer poll that indicated a 2 point race, the Columbus Dispatch indicated a 5 point race. None of those indicated any kind of surges to me. And obviously there’s lots of private polling we look at Senatorial, Congressional, Gubernatorial across the board I do not comment on the specifics unless it is a public poll. But again the ultimate evidence is not take my word for it, but we put our money where our mouth is, and in this case we are putting millions behind this effort.”

Question: “So are you going to follow through on all of the TV time you reserved already in Ohio?”

Chairman Mehlman: “I do not reserve TV time. The way that it works is as you may know is there is an independent expenditure an independent unit that is responsible on doing things, and they make those decisions. I don’t know about them, I can’t know about them, I am a lawyer and I will one day be a lawyer again, and I am not going to potentially risk that for them or me, I can tell you that there is a very strong commitment because there is a very strong belief that Mike DeWine can win.”

Question: You said you know you’re going to continue funding but you didn’t really say, I want to hear you say that you’re not shifting money around. This report says that your shifting money around that you’re going to be giving less money than before.”

Chairman Mehlman: “I think what I said is the evidence in Ohio is a top priority is that there is no state getting more than what Ohio is and that indicates to me that there the top and there are millions more that we intend to spend over the coming three weeks on both turnout and on message. Beyond that I said I’m not going to get specific. We have a huge number of staff on the ground that are working hard. I don’t believe in giving away strategy. All I’m trying to do is say to you that story, I don’t believe, characterizes correctly where we are.”

Question: “When you say no state is going to get more than Ohio. Are you including the money that you’ve already given DeWine?”

Chairman Mehlman: “What I’m saying is we intend to have an incredibly aggressive program as I said. If you want to be prospective, I said millions will be sent forward-leaning going in the next three weeks on turnout and on message. Beyond that I’m just not going to get specific as to when we do and what we do but again in the coming three weeks, in the coming three weeks, there will be millions more spent on turn out and on message. Why don’t we do two more questions, just because I know you’re all busy.”

Question: “Good morning Chairman. Two quick things, have you talked to DeWine? And secondly, you’re talking about millions being spent in Ohio. Is DeWine your top priority?”

Chairman Mehlman: “I have talked to Senator DeWine when I saw the story, I told him it is inaccurate. … He is an incredibly important priority. Ken Blackwell is an incredibly important priority. Deb Pryce is an important priority. I’m not going to get into which Republican candidate is more important than another candidate. He is a critical priority as are these other candidates.”