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Sen. John Ensign said Wednesday that the Republican National
Committee (RNC) has transferred $2 million earmarked for the Senate runoff in
Georgia to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), which was $4 million
in debt after Election Day.
The Nevada Republican said the NRSC ended the cycle in twice as
much debt as he would have liked, but that the decision to press further was
made after consulting his potential successors.
“I was in close consultation with Sen. [John] Cornyn and, at the
time, [Norm] Coleman, because we didn’t know which one of them was going to be
the NRSC chairman,” Ensign said. “I inherited $2 million in debt, and I didn’t
want to go above what I inherited. But some of these races were so close.”
Sen. Cornyn (Texas) was named the next NRSC chairman on Tuesday.
Coleman’s
(Minn.) reelection race begins its recount Wednesday — a situation
that forced him to concede the NRSC race.
The committee has already launched a $700,000 ad buy in the Georgia
race, which pits Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) against former state Rep. Jim
Martin (D). Chambliss finished the general election with 49.8 percent of the
vote — just under the majority vote needed — while Martin took 46.8 percent.
Ensign said the race is “a race we should win,” but he expects it
to be close because of the superior national Democratic resources.
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