CHA-CHING! :

GOP Scores In Photo Flap (John Bresnahan, June 3, 2002, Roll Call)

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but political controversy, apparently, is worth a lot more.

To be specific, a minimum of $1.4 million, according to the National Republican Congressional Committee and National Republican Senatorial Committee.

The two GOP campaign committees touched off a political firestorm two weeks ago by offering donors a three-photo set of President Bush for $150--including one shot of Bush phoning Vice President Dick Cheney from Air Force One on the afternoon of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks - if they contributed to an upcoming fundraising dinner.

Democratic leaders immediately slammed the decision by the two Republican campaign arms to use the Air Force One photo as a "grotesque"and "disgraceful " exploitation of a national tragedy, and government watchdog groups such as Common Cause denounced the move as a ploy to gain "partisan advantage" from the outpouring of public support for the President since the the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

Initially stung by the outcry, the NRCC dropped Bush from its other ad and mail efforts, at least for the near term, and Senate Democrats suggested that any money raised through the use of the photo should go to charity instead of into Republican coffers.

But the resulting media melee also helped drive up demand for the photos, according to GOPofficials.

The NRCC and NRSC have sent out "thousands and thousands" ofcopies of the photo set, dramatically more than the roughly 1,000 they had originally planned on distributing.

One Republican source estimated that between 3,000 and 6,000 copies of the photo set have been sent out since the news of their availability first broke in mid-May.

Good to see this stupid fracas blow up in the face of the Democrats. Posted by Orrin Judd at June 3, 2002 3:53 PM