Religious right group upset over GOP abandonment

The Family Research Council's (FRC) political arm ripped Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) Thursday for withdrawing ad spending on behalf of two endangered Republican candidates.

FRC President Tony Perkins said in a letter to Cole, chairman of the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC), that the committee "is abandoning social conservative candidates" by pulling ads from the reelection races of Reps. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.) and Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.).

{mosads}Bachmann has come under fire recently for stating — then denying — her concern that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and other members of Congress hold "anti-American" views.

Musgrave is considered to be a reliable champion of socially conservative causes and one of the most outspoken members on the issue of gay marriage. The Colorado congresswoman is in an uphill battle to retain her seat against Democrat Betsy Markey.

Perkins, an influential conservative leader, said in his letter that he believes Cole, whose committee has been hemorrhaging money in an uphill battle against Democratic congressional candidates, "made a grave error in judgment" by pulling ads from Musgrave's and Bachmann's districts.

"The left is attacking both of these outstanding women because they are true conservatives," Perkins said. "They vote pro-life and pro-family."

Perkins wrote that both candidates are in "winnable districts," and that "pulling funds from their campaigns sends the wrong message to their supporters and gives their opponents a chance to produce headlines that the NRCC has undermined these campaigns."

"This is no time to cut and run from a fight," Perkins wrote.

He added that he will "urge supporters" of the FRC to stop contributing to the NRCC "until it starts supporting and fighting for conservative candidates in close races."

Bachmann appeared to be on relatively safe ground until she made her comments about Obama and congressional Democrats on MSNBC’s "Hardball with Chris Matthews" last week. Since then, her opponent, Elwyn Tinklenberg (D), has seen a flood of campaign contributions and polls show the race tightening.

The NRCC disputed the characterization that it has pulled ads from Bachmann's race, arguing that because of the way campaign finance laws are structured, Cole actually has no control over what gets funded.

Karen Hanretty, an NRCC spokeswoman, wrote in a memo that the NRCC's Independent Expenditure is "a segregated unit, firewalled off from the rest of the NRCC."

What's more, Hanretty argued that the NRCC never ran ads in Bachmann's district, but the independent expenditure unit "reserved a time and chose not to purchase it."