Politico gets plenty of reassurances from Alaska Republicans -- including Libertarian-minded Joe Miller, who was at the center of the 2010 GOP battles in Alaska -- that warring party factions will be holding hands and united in time to retake Democrat Mark Begich's U.S. Senate seat in 2014. But the national GOP is worried, Politico says, and will get the campaign organization started while taking a few shots at Begich in the meantime.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus plans a trip to Alaska in October. A state director from the national party will relocate there soon to help the state party build a grass-roots infrastructure. The RNC's director of field finance has met with [state GOP chairman Peter] Goldberg and is working with him to build up their fundraising apparatus.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee, meanwhile, has been paying for robocalls that attack Begich as an Obama-boosting liberal who supported a carbon tax — an effort that might be the province of a state party not in such a state of flux.
[Lt. Gov. Mead] Treadwell's campaign manager, Adam Jones, expressed confidence the Alaska GOP will be in good shape when it comes time to take on Begich in the general election. "It's like walking into a Ford factory and seeing all the parts lying on the floor when they haven't even started to build the car," he said. "The vehicle will be built and in place when it needs to be."
In the meantime, Politico says, the Begich campaign "has spent years laying the groundwork" for re-election and is shadowing Treadwell at public events.
Read more: In Alaska, fears of a GOP civil war
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