Kerry hits Palin in fundraising push

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) took a shot at former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) in the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee's (DSCC) latest fundraising push.

Kerry wrote in an e-mail to Democratic donors that they had to "match the passion and activism of these new forces in the Republican Party" lest they lose their 60-vote supermajority in 2010.

"Think GOP obstruction is bad now?" asked Kerry. "Just imagine what Washington would look like if a bunch of new senators — inspired by Sarah Palin and the tea party crowd — took over."

In the e-mail, Kerry identified two GOP Senate candidates in two of the most hotly contested races in the country, former Rep. Rob Simmons (Conn.) and Rep. Mark Kirk (Ill.), as candidates attempting to "pander" to the "fringe" of the Republican Party.

Simmons is running against Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Kirk is running to replace Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.), who occupies President Barack Obama's old Senate seat.

The DSCC has begun to take aim at various Republican Senate candidates as  front-runners are beginning to emerge in several primary races.

Kerry and Palin also have a short history of barbs targeted at one another.

In June, after South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) was reported missing before it was revealed he was having an affair, Kerry joked, "Too bad ... if a governor had to go missing it couldn’t have been the governor of Alaska. You know, Sarah Palin."

A day after the joke, Palin quipped about the shape of Kerry's head.

"He looked quite frustrated and he looked so sad," Palin said to a group of National Guardsmen. "I just wanted to reach out to the TV and say, 'John Kerry, why the long face?' "

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