Conservative groups working to derail the nomination of Chuck Hagel as defense secretary said last week that they planned to use the Senate’s weeklong recess to unearth anything they could to block him.
Turns out, that’s expensive work. And one of the groups, Rick Santorum’s “super PAC†Patriot Voices, is using the delay on Mr. Hagel’s confirmation vote to raise money.
Mr. Santorum himself took to passing the hat, writing in an e-mail to supporters this week that the group needed to raise an additional $10,000 or it would have to abandon its efforts to oppose Mr. Hagel.
“My staff tells me that if we don’t get on pace to raise $10,000 by this Friday, we’ll have to shut down our ‘No to Chuck’ effort early,†Mr. Santorum wrote in the e-mail. “So please, don’t delay. Make the most generous emergency contribution you can right away. We appreciate your dedication and support. Thank you and God Bless.â€
Mr. Santorum, whose unsuccessful bid for the Republican pesidential nod in 2012 nonetheless raised his profile among conservatives, said that his group’s efforts had resulted in sending more than 56,000 e-mails to senators urging them to vote down Mr. Hagel’s nomination. And the group was continuing efforts to recruit more people to write and call.
Though these groups have presumably been hard at work trying to dig up unflattering information about Mr. Hagel’s old remarks on subjects like Israel and Iran â€" topics he has tripped up on in the past â€" nothing of substance has surfaced yet.
In fact, one of the groups that some conservative outlets claimed Mr. Hagel had ties to â€" an outfit said to be called Friends of Hamas â€" does not even appear to exist.
The Senate was planning to move forward with a vote on Mr. Hagel’s nomination as early as Tuesday. And if Democrats break the Republican ! filibuster efforts, which they appear to have enough votes to do, Mr. Hagel would be confirmed.
