BY PAUL BARTON
Enquirer Washington Bureau
and HOWARD WILKINSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Steve Chabot
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WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot was on his own two years ago when organized labor spent about $1 million trying to defeat him, but this year his fellow Republicans in the House are planning a rescue.
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is putting together "Operation Breakout," a $37 million advertising blitz this fall to counter anything the Democratic Party or its interest-group allies may launch against them.
Most of the GOP money is going to come from the campaign funds of the 170 or so GOP House members who, unlike Mr. Chabot, have little or no opposition this fall and plenty of money in the bank to share -- such as Rep. John Boehner, R-West Chester, and Rep. Rob Portman, R-Terrace Park.
"We've always helped other Republicans like Steve in tight races, and we'll help more," said Mr. Portman, who is sitting on a $600,000 campaign fund and plans to spend little of it on his own re-election campaign. "We'll do our fair share."
When Mr. Chabot ran for re-election two years ago, he found himself blindsided by a $35 million advertising campaign that organized labor was financing nationwide against selected GOP candidates. Nearly $1 million was spent by the AFL-CIO in Mr. Chabot's 1st Congressional District alone.
Now, with Mr. Chabot running in a hotly contested race against Cincinnati Mayor Roxanne Qualls, he is once again an AFL-CIO target.
Some GOP House members are being asked to kick in to Operation Breakout at least $500,000 each -- particularly those with large campaign funds and those in the House leadership who have their own independent political action committees.
Mr. Boehner, chairman of the House Republican Conference, is playing a top role in encouraging members to contribute.
"I think there is going to be tremendous participation," Mr. Boehner said.
The size of Mr. Boehner's own contribution to the effort is yet to be decided, his office said. The congressman has his own campaign fund plus a political action committee, the Freedom Project, that is used to help other candidates. Last year, Mr. Boehner's Freedom Project contributed $136,146 to Republican House candidates.
Mr. Boehner described Operation Breakout as a way for Republicans to concentrate their firepower this fall.
The 170 members who have little or no opposition have close to $60 million in their campaign accounts.
"It's about saying to our members, "Let's pull together as a team,' " Mr. Boehner said when asked to describe the operation. At least $5 million to $6 million has been raised so far, he said. Sources close to the NRCC say the expected $37 million total will likely be spent on issue-oriented ads that try to push voters away from Democratic candidates.
It is unlikely the ads will mention Mr. Chabot specifically, mainly because there are several other GOP candidates in the Cincinnati media market who will also need help from the NRCC, including Lt. Gov. Nancy Hollister in Ohio's 6th Congressional District and Gex "Jay" Williams in Kentucky's 4th Congressional District.
Meanwhile, spokeswomen for both the Chabot and Qualls campaigns say are aware of the outside efforts but are trying not to concern themselves with them.
They insist the outcome of the race will depend on what is done locally, not by any cookie-cutter advertising that is directed from Washington.
"We anticipate there is going to be a lot of national activity in this race on both sides," said Beth Davidson, press secretary for the Qualls campaign.
"I am pretty confident in our message and the fact that this is a local campaign where people are concerned about education and health care and Social Security and making the 1st District a better community."
Mr. Chabot's campaign manager, Shannon Jones, spoke similarly. "What's going to matter is what the Chabot campaign does in this district," she said.
Mr. Chabot plans to emphasize differences with Ms. Qualls on issues, especially taxes, federal spending and partial birth abortion, she said.
Even before Operation Breakout was created, Mr. Chabot's campaign was getting substantial support from fellow Republicans in the House.
The Chabot campaign's Federal Election Commission reports show that he had received $58,500 in contributions to his campaign committee from fellow Republicans, including campaign committees and PACs controlled by House Speaker Newt Gingrich, House Majority Leader Dick Armey, and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde.
But Operation Breakout will be money spent independent of the GOP candidates' campaigns. Republicans on Capitol Hill say they are doing the large independent expenditures because they learned a lesson from the AFL-CIO expenditures in 1996.
"This time we will have a coordinated effort in place among our members to make sure (the GOP record) isn't distorted by another campaign of lies and scare tactics from liberal special interest groups," said Boehner aide Dave Schnittger.
"These groups are going to throw everything but the kitchen sink at us in the next few months and we are going to be ready for them when they do."
Qualls a leader in campaign funds
