From: Pat Toomey Date: 14 Sep 2006 06:09:41 PDT Subject: Heartbreaking Loss in Rhode Island The primary season for the Club's PAC ended Tuesday night with a tough loss in Rhode Island when Steve Laffey's challenge to incumbent Sen. Lincoln Chafee fell short. The final tally: Chafee 54%, Laffey 46%. Still, even with that loss the Club's PAC racked up 9 wins against just 4 losses. It's a record we're proud of, especially given that our endorsed candidates competed in races with nearly 50 major opponents. In most cases our candidate was the underdog, as in yesterday's Rhode Island race. The Washington Post reported yesterday that the Club's PAC "had an extremely successful run so far this cycle." And the Club's PAC scored its first-ever knockout of an incumbent when Tim Walberg defeated Rep. Joe Schwarz in the Michigan Republican primary. We accomplished something vitally important in Rhode Island despite the vote tally. Politicians are risk-adverse. Every Republican in Congress knows what we did in Rhode Island. They realize that Club members donated an incredible $725,000 to Chafee's challenger. They know that the Club for Growth PAC spent an additional $515,000, mostly on TV ads, and took a challenger from being down 2 to 1 in the polls to the edge of an upset. As senators cast their votes on key bills, wavering Republicans will have to wonder if they could withstand the same punishment. National Review yesterday wrote that Laffey's "loss was by no means an exercise in futility: Sometimes it's better to fight and lose than not to fight at all. Two years ago, Pat Toomey nearly defeated Sen. Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania's GOP primary. Yesterday, Laffey gave Chafee a genuine scare. Both Toomey and Laffey received crucial support from the Club for Growth [PAC]. Senators are a notoriously risk-averse crowd. And now, for the second election cycle in a row, Republican senators have received a sharp reminder that if they behave too much like liberals, they may not be senators for long." Accountability is important. And together Club members and the Club's PAC have proven beyond question we will hold Republicans accountable for higher taxes and wasteful spending. That's a win for taxpayers. The vitality of the Republican Party is based on its principles. The irony is that so many Republicans in Washington are so willing to abandon principle to seek political gain that they may well lose both. We are trying to save them from that costly mistake. We sincerely appreciate the generous donations from all the Club members who gave to Steve Laffey's campaign. We also thank Steve Laffey for taking nearly a year out of his life to run a principled race where he often talked about the pro-growth issues that are so vital to our nation's future. He worked hard and ran hard, and for that we are grateful. Best Regards, Pat Patrick J. Toomey President, Club for Growth 2001 L Street, NW, Ste 600 Washington, DC 20036 PH: 202-955-5500