GOP's election strategy lets others do its dirty work

By E.J. Dionne Jr.
WashPost
Monday, October 18, 2010

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. The Republican Party is running a three-level campaign this year that gives its candidates a wealth of advantages -- in flexibility, deniability and determination.

At the first level are the party's candidates, who can be as reasonable or as angry, as moderate or as conservative, as their circumstances require.

Next come the outside groups that refuse to disclose their donor lists. They are doing the dirty work of pounding their Democratic opponents in commercials for which no one is accountable. The Republican candidates can shrug an innocent "Who, me?" Deniability is a wonderful thing.

And then, on the far right, Glenn Beck and his allies cast President Obama as the central figure in a conspiracy against America itself, fueling participation by the most extreme 10 percent or 15 percent of the electorate.

(More here.)