Press Release: Conservatives Vow: ‘Not One Red Cent for NRSC’

Florida Senate Endorsement
Causes GOP Grassroots Rebellion

WASHINGTON, DC, May 21 – Conservative activists are sparking an online grassroots uprising in response to the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s decision to endorse Charlie Crist in the 2010 Florida Senate race 15 months before the GOP primary for the seat currently held by Republican Sen. Mel Martinez.
Erick Erickson, CEO of the popular RedState.com site, invited fellow conservatives to join a Facebook group vowing “Not One Penny to the National Republican Senatorial Committee.” RightWingNews.com founder John Hawkins called for Texas Sen. John Cornyn to resign as chairman of the NRSC. A “Not One Red Cent” blog chronicling the online grassroots protest attracted thousands of readers in its first four days.
Hawkins says the NRSC made a strategic blunder by backing Crist over former Florida Speaker of the House Marco Rubio, a GOP conservative who is also seeking the Senate seat in 2010.
“The leadership of the Republican Party keeps saying we need to get back to our principles and talking about how important it is to attract more young voters and Hispanic Americans,” Hawkins said. “Then, we get a viable, young, conservative, Hispanic candidate running for Senate and they arrogantly try to shove him aside to make way for a better connected, moderate pol who’s more acceptable to the GOP establishment. This cuts to the core of what’s wrong with today’s Republican Party.”
After Erickson reported that he was under pressure from Republicans “begging” him to shut down the anti-NRSC Facebook group, hundreds more conservatives joined the group.
“The NRSC endorsing Charlie Crist, the man Barack Obama calls his favorite Republican, sends a strong signal that the NRSC believes it can take the GOP base’s money, then tell them to shut up,” Erickson said. “It is an admission that the Senate Republicans, after two back to back disasters, have yet to properly diagnose their problems.”
To arrange an interview with the activists leading the “Not One Red Cent” movement, contact Audrey Mullen of Advocacy Ink at 703-548-1160.

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