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September 01, 2010
Categories: 2010
O'Donnell backer makes sex charge in Delaware race

A conservative firm until recently employed by the Delaware primary campaign of conservative Christine O'Donnell against Rep. Mike Castle casually leveled an extraordinary — and unsupported — charge of a gay affair against Castle in a video posted to its website today, the ugliest salvo yet in an extremely bitterprimary.

The newscast-style video on Liberty.com features a woman seated before a backdrop of Liberty.com's Las Vegas headquarters, criticizing Castle and praising O'Donnell.

"Isn't Mike Castle cheating on his wife with a man?" asks a voice off-screen at the 1:55 mark.

"That's the rumor," answers the newscaster. (A short clip of the exchange is above.)

My colleague Dave Catanese reported earlier this month that O'Donnell's spokesman, Yates Walker, works for Liberty.com, and the American Spectatordescribed Eric Odom, the group's founder, as having "joined Team O'Donnell" to organize online support.

Walker told me he and the firm left the campaign two weeks ago and produced the video on their own.

"We asked the question, we didn't specifically say it," he said of the gay affair charge, which he said was "common knowledge" in Delaware. "We thought we'd throw it out there."

Walker said he had no compunction about repeating the rumor about Castle because "he's a threat to American sovereignty."

He didn't offer any evidence for the claim.

O'Donnell campaign manager Matt Moran didn't immediately respond to a call for comment.

Castle campaign manager Mike Quaranta didn't comment on the substance of the attack, but said in an e-mail:

"Sadly these are the types of gutter tactics that voters in Delaware have come to expect from Christine O'Donnell and her out-of-state supporters."


Eric D. Schwerin
Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC
1010 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Suite 705
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 333-1880
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com
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