Republicans Caught in a Storm

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The Wall Street Journal

Republicans Caught in a Storm

Scandal Threatens to Engulf Candidates With No Connection
By JEANNE CUMMINGS
October 5, 2006; Page A4


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Republican strategists fear fallout from the Foley scandal will suppress turnout among social conservatives and doom their hopes of holding majorities. It also offers an echo of the political dynamics that drove the 1994 Republican takeover of the House. Then, news of the indictment of a powerful House committee chairman in a federal money-laundering investigation of the House Post Office broke in midcampaign, leading to charges of Democratic leadership coverups by Republican challengers.

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In Minnesota's Sixth District, the scandal also figures large in the race between Ms. Wetterling and Michele Bachmann, a leader of the Republican Party's social-conservative wing. They are vying to fill the seat of Republican Rep. Mark Kennedy, who's leaving the House and running for the Senate. Ms. Wetterling, who lost a bid to unseat Mr. Kennedy in 2004, was catapulted into politics 16 years ago after her son, Jacob, then 11 years old, was abducted. Jacob has never been found, and Ms. Wetterling went on to become an advocate for children. Working with Democrats and Republicans in the state legislature, she helped to pass laws creating a sex-offender registry and launching an Amber Alert system.

But she took on a challenge when entering the race: The Sixth District gave President Bush 57% of the vote in 2004. In addition, Ms. Bachmann is a polished campaigner who upset two more-senior state-legislative colleagues in the primary. Ms. Wetterling was struggling to tie Ms. Bachmann to the Iraq war, the Democrats' strongest issue in other areas. Meanwhile, Ms. Bachmann's antiabortion-rights position meshed better with the socially conservative district. A late-summer poll put Ms. Bachmann ahead 50% to 41%. Yesterday's Reuters poll put the race at 46%-43%, with Ms. Bachmann holding a slim lead that falls within the margin of error. The Bachmann camp complained the poll included a third-party candidate.

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Ms. Wetterling has been plucked by the Democrats to respond to President Bush's Saturday radio address, which is expected to focus on a White House forum on child safety organized after a spate of school shootings. Ms. Bachmann says Mr. Foley committed a "bad act," and says she supports a federal investigation of the matter. As for voters, she said, they understandably "recoil" from the scandal but "I hope people will stay engaged." But Mr. Thorson said "she's going to have to do something pretty strong to mobilize" Republican voters who may feel betrayed and unconvinced that the party "is really fighting for their social agenda."


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