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The commercials have been airing. The mailboxes are being stuffed. The National Republican Congressional Committee is going after Tim Roemer.
And Dan Holtz, the Republican challenger in Tuesday's election, is the beneficiary.
While the television commercials are being paid for by the Holtz campaign, the NRCC mailer is using the same "Thank you, Tim Roemer" theme as the television commercials and tries to connect Roemer to President Clinton, using the president's picture and his "Thank you, Tim Roemer" message.
The mailers go farther with the connection, claiming Roemer votes for Clinton legislative initiatives seven out of 10 times. Some of the legislation detailed to illustrate the point includes Roemer's vote against the $500-per-child tax credit proposed by the Congressional Republicans and opposed by the president, and his vote against the "Dollars to the Classroom" legislation that proposed returning 95 cents of every education tax dollar collected to local classrooms.
"The RNCC thinks this is a district they can win, so they have decided to put some of their resources into defeating him (Roemer)," said Greg Scimeca, Holtz campaign spokesperson.
According to Mike McElwain, field representative for the NRCC, the committee is putting approximately $60,000 into the direct mail effort, and sees the mailing as a good investment.
"The district is generally Republican and Dan Holtz is running a very strong and effective campaign," McElwain said. "We're comfortable with putting money into this race and confident in Holtz's ability to win next Tuesday."
The Holtz campaign is also confident of their chances, Scimeca said, despite the odds against unseating a popular incumbent.
"We are optimistic, but it's always hard to unseat an incumbent congressman," he said. "And Tim Roemer is a nice guy. We just don't believe he represents the majority of the voters in the district."
Scimeca said NRCC is generally funded by small donors, with contributions in the $25- to $50 range.
"The Third District has many NRCC members, so the direct mail campaign is bringing some of that money home," he said.
