You might be wondering what ever happened to our old friend Dick Wad(hams), formerly campaign manager for George Allen against Jim Webb. Well, here he is:
Republican Party state chairman Dick Wadhams said Thursday he has been "advising" Bob Schaffer's U.S. Senate campaign for months, but Democrats charge that Wadhams actually is running the show."That's crazy," Wadhams said.
Schaffer, however, has not named a campaign manager with Election Day less than nine months away.
Schaffer also has taken the unusual position of refusing to discuss issues until he has his official campaign kickoff. Democrats, like political consultant Steve Welchert, say that's vintage Wadhams, who has run races where the candidate keeps quiet while Wadhams goes on the attack.
To summarize the highlights of Dick Wad(hams) career:
*He is considered a longtime friend of Karl Rove and has even been called Rove's "heir apparent".
*He ran John Thune's slimy campaign against Tom Daschle in 2004, which infamously paid two bloggers who never disclosed their employment status with the Thune campaign (while trashing Tom Daschle and also reporters covering the race). Wad(hams) even utilized the (political) services of Jeff Gannon, who "was later exposed by AmericaBlog as a gay prostitute with a thriving escort website containing nude photographs of himself while ostensibly working as a journalist who was credentialed with a White House press pass."
*He helped take George Allen from possibly the leading Republican for the 2008 presidential nomination to...whatever it is he's doing now.
Anyway, Wad(hams) appears to be running Bob Schaffer's Senate campaign against U.S. Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO). We'll see if that moves this race up or down from its current #4 ranking in terms of possible Democratic pickups. My guess is "up," as in anything Dick Wad(hams) touches turns to...well, not gold.