WASHINGTON — With an early fundraising blitz, the online liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org has shown both its potential as a Democratic asset and a Republican target in the 2006 elections.
In less than three days last week, the group's political action committee raised from its members nearly $833,000 for Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), who next year could face his first competitive race in decades.
The amount represented more than three-fourths of the total that Byrd collected between Jan. 1 and March 31, and was the most money MoveOn has raised for one candidate at one time, according to the group's officials.
"Sen. Byrd would be the prize for Republicans in 2006 that Tom Daschle was in 2004," said Tom Matzzie, MoveOn's Washington director, referring to the former Senate minority leader from South Dakota who lost his reelection bid in November.
Byrd, Matzzie said, "is just such a gigantic figure for progressives that we felt like we had to be supportive."
But the torrent of MoveOn money drew quick fire from Republicans, who signaled that they intended to make the group's support an issue not only in West Virginia but also in other states.
"This organization is not a mainstream organization," said Brian Nick, communications director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
First elected to the Senate in 1958, Byrd has not won less than 65% of the vote in any race since. He won 78% of the vote in 2000 and spent less than $1.1 million on his campaign.
But with Bush having carried West Virginia by 13 percentage points in November's presidential race, Republicans say Byrd will be a top target next year.
Byrd, 87, has not formally declared that he will seek his ninth term. But Tom Gavin, his spokesman, said, "He has indicated he has every intention to seek reelection."
Independent political analyst Stuart Rothenberg said Byrd's age, and the state's rightward tilt, meant the race was "worth keeping an eye on."
Republican Hiram Lewis has announced his candidacy to challenge Byrd. Lewis, a lawyer and Army National Guard officer who served in Iraq, narrowly lost a race for state attorney general last year.
But Rothenberg, like analysts in both parties, said he believed Republicans were most likely to seriously press Byrd if they could recruit Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) to challenge him. Capito has not committed to the Senate race, and some local observers believe she is more likely to run if Byrd steps down.
