Guess This Would Explain the Rudy-Ralph Alliance, Huh?

Another instance of me playing catch-up here, but it looks like Ralph Reed is blaming John McCain for his defeat. Reed has only one person to blame, and that's himself, but this is interesting nonetheless:

Here's the view of what happened from the Reed camp: Once the Abramoff stuff exploded, it was going to be a very tough road for Reed. Glen Bolger did a poll for the campaign in January showing that it was possible for Reed to win, but his negatives were very high and he would have to squeak by. Reed had a choice to make, and decided to stay in the race and try to make it happen. In the end, soft Republicans appear to have broken very strongly against him in the suburbs. There may have been some cross-over Democratic votes in the open primary, but that alone can't account for a 54-46% loss. Reed's connection to the Abramoff stuff had broken back in the summer of 2004, so it couldn't have been predicted that it would be such a huge deal even now. But it was. The Reed camp blames John McCain for playing payback for his 2000 primary defeat with a campaign of leaks, and the press, of course, was happy to pile on.

I guess this speculation posted at Peach Pundit a while back was right. Reed was angry at McCain for his role in Abramoff investigation (among other things) so he reaches out to McCain's prime competitor for the nomination. Not George Allen. Not Mitt Romney. But Rudy.

A wounded animal can sometimes be the most dangerous one, and paybacks are hell (as Reed himself learned). I personally look forward to seeing what role Reed carves out for himself in the 2008 South Carolina primary.

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