NRCC Holds Firmly Around Andy Sere

The NRCC is sticking to their young gun Andy Sere despite the "twittergate" controversy this blog broke last night. Following in his stellar tradition of attacking Rick Boucher for votes missed because his mother died and reminding votes that terrorist acts against Tommy Boy's family doesn't make him a victim, Sere posted the addresses of Perriello campaign staffers despite hiding his own on public disclosure forms.

The petition to ban NRCC's queen spokesperson is just shy of 300 so far. If you haven't already, sign it and encourage your friends, family, neighbors, and anyone with a sense of basic dignity to sign it. So far the NRCC has refused to back down and is defending Andy Sere's actions, prompting calls from the Perriello camp for Robert Hurt to distance himself from Beltway Republicans . . .

Virginia's top political blogger notes that Hurt himself appears to be angry at the NRCC as well:

Legislators from southside close to Robert Hurt have told me that Hurt and his campaign were "furious" with Andy for his tweets and the NRCC for their initial reaction to this story. Hurt has a comfortable lead in this race and Andy's actions "recklessly endangered" that status according to one longtime friend of Hurt's. This friend also told me (and I confirmed with someone close to the campaign) that Robert had an angry reaction to this distraction this morning and directed his campaign to demand Andy apologize. The campaign source also told me that while the @VotePerriello account "started this" by calling a Hurt staffer a carpetbagger- that Andy's and the NRCC response was far disproportionate and noted that "It's the NRCC's job to help us win, not f*** us up and knock us off message".

The problem is that Hurt's been silent on this issue and refusing to respond to media inquiries on the subject. That's not leadership, that's cowardice. The same cowardice that encourages him to duck debates. The same cowardice that encourages him to remain silent and hop on a plan to attend a fundraiser with . . . NRCC Chair Pete Sessions!

Robert Hurt has the opportunity to stand up and show his independence from Beltway Republicans. If he really was angry at the NRCC's actions, he would publicly demand an apology and refuse their help until they fire Andy Sere. What will Robbie do tomorrow? We'll see.