Dems Spending Money In GOP Races Is Dangerous

It backfired in the 2002 California Gubernatorial race, when Gray Davis intervened to promote the campaign of the weaker campaign of Dick Simon over that of Richard Riordan. The only reason it won't backfire here is that there were two prominent weaker GOP candidates, not just one:

But the warnings didn’t come from any of the seven opponents Tillis will face in Tuesday’s GOP primary, where he has been regularly attacked as not conservative enough. Instead, they were paid for by Sen. Kay Hagan, a Democrat who will face the eventual GOP nominee in November.

Hagan supports the health-care law but she is taking the unusual step of spending money on advertisements designed to appeal to Republican voters who are skeptical of the measure. The maneuver is apparently intended to undermine enthusiasm in the GOP base for the Republican who is considered her strongest potential challenger in November.

In attacking a possible rival still embroiled in a primary contest, Hagan is embracing at least a variation of a tactic other vulnerable Democratic senators have used successfully in recent elections. Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) and Sen. Claire McCaskill (Mo.), who initially faced difficult reelection odds in 2010 and 2012, respectively, found ways to reach into GOP primaries and help weaker candidates emerge as their challengers.

...A vocal critic of the health-care law, Tillis said Hagan is seeking to have an impact on Tuesday’s primary. During the February radio interview that has become the basis for Hagan’s attack ads, Tillis was highly critical of the measure before concluding that it was a “great idea that can’t be paid for” — a quote he says was sarcasm that Hagan took out of context.

“They’ve meddled in the campaign. . . . They’ll be meddling in the campaign all the way to Tuesday. And if we have a runoff, they’ll be meddling again,” Tillis said as he greeted Republicans arriving to vote early at a library in Charlotte on Saturday. “They do not want to see me face off against Kay Hagan in November.”