National Republicans continue to pour millions of dollars into bailing out state Rep. Rick Saccone in the special election for Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District, but that doesn’t mean they’re in love with their guy. In fact, with the polls close and victory not assured in a district Donald Trump won by nearly 20 points, Republicans are laying the blame ahead of time, trashing Saccone as an incompetent fundraiser and candidate.
They describe a candidate who largely ignored pleas to raise the money he needed, who blindsided the White House and the national party with his choice of a political strategist, and whose amateur-style social media feed included low-quality videos of him at a local bar and yukking it up with Santa. To make matters worse, Saccone is up against a Democratic rival the party could hardly have engineered had it tried: Conor Lamb, an Ivy League-educated 33-year-old Marine veteran and former federal prosecutor. [...]
The concerns go all the way to the White House. Trump appeared with Saccone at an event in January, and in the weeks that followed he described the candidate as less than ideal, according to three people who’ve spoken with him. In February, Trump planned to attend a fundraiser with Saccone, but in the days leading up to the event, the president’s aides privately grew fearful that Saccone wouldn’t be able to draw a sufficient number of donors to the event. (The fundraiser was ultimately canceled because of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting.)
Maybe Republicans are really afraid Saccone will lose. Maybe they’re trying to make sure they and their millions of dollars get credit for pulling him across the finish line if he wins narrowly—still the most likely result given the red district. Maybe they’re just that frustrated with a guy who keeps saying he knows he needs to raise his game and then not doing it. But whatever it is, it’s delicious.