Diane Drum for State Senate

The Republican State Leadership Committee ("RSLC") is an arm of the Republican National Committee ("RNC").  This group is located at 1800 Diagonal Road, Alexandria, Virginia, 22314, the same address utilized on its political mailers' return address.  It utilizes nationally generated funds to influence the outcome of targeted state legislative races.  It is currently involved in the Senate District 15 race between first-time Democratic candidate Diane Drum and two-term Republican Senator Jonathan Nichols.

According to ethics reports filed with the Oklahoma Ethics Commission, the RSLC expended $80,238 on Senate District 15 political mailers on October 23, 2008.  Specifically, the RSLC cited $53,492 in political mailers opposing Diane Drum and $26,746 in political mailers supporting Jonathan Nichols.

According to the reported accepted contributions by the RSLC on October 24, 2008, of the $138,855 in contributions it accepted for use in legislative races in the state of Oklahoma, $127,700 came from donations outside of Oklahoma. 

Thus far, the four political mailers the National Republican party has sent opposing Diane Drum are entitled:

1.  "Trial lawyer Diane Drum fought to stop your right to vote."

2.  "Developers want to take our homes."

3.  "Developers and trial lawyers want to make all of the decisions."

4.  "Diane Drum tried to erode homeowners' property rights."

The only received political mailer the RSLC has sent out thus far supporting Jonathan Nichols is entitled:

1.  "Keeping our taxes low is easy."

A couple of questions:

1.  Why is the National Republican Party needing to get involved in defending a 2-term sitting senator against a first-time candidate?

2.  Why is the National Republican Party needing to spend $80,000 on this race when Nichols reports in excess of $140,000 cash-on-hand as of October 21, 2008?

3.  Why does the National Republican Party believe that Senator Nichols needs backup when Nichols has raised almost twice as much as first-time candidate Diane Drum?