Parker Griffith, R-Ala.

Tuesday, Dec 22, 2009 5:15 PM UTC

NRCC scrubs ads attacking party switcher

Republicans move quickly to rid YouTube of vicious ads run against Parker Griffith, who's joining their party

By Alex Koppelman

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When Democrat Parker Griffith ran for Congress last year, it was in a district that the GOP wanted badly to win. So the Natioanl Republican Congressional Committee really went to town on him, putting out an attack ad filled with dark images of terror attacks, including 9/11, that ended by quoting Griffith as saying, “We have nothing to fear from radical Islam.”

Griffith won anyway. But on Tuesday, news broke that he plans to switch parties, and will officially announce his decision to become a Republican Tuesday afternoon. Problem was, that ad was apparently still on YouTube.

The NRCC seems to have moved quickly, though. Their official copy of the spot has been removed from the video-sharing site. One other user’s copy still remained as of this post, however. You can view it below.

Update: Not wanting to be left out of the action, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is now scrubbing positive statements its people made about Griffith in 2008.

Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon. More Alex Koppelman.

Tuesday, Dec 22, 2009 4:28 PM UTC

Freshman House Democrat switching parties

Alabama Rep. Parker Griffith will become a Republican Tuesday; healthcare is part of the reason

By Alex Koppelman

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Rep. Parker Griffith, D-Ala., will announce Tuesday afternoon that he’s switching parties and becoming a Republican, a GOP source familiar with the decision who didn’t want to preempt the announcement tells Salon. A first-term congressman, Griffith represents a district that’s trended more and more conservative in recent years but hasn’t been represented by a Republican since shortly after the Civil War.

Griffith is a doctor, and he’s expected to cite his differences with Democrats over healthcare reform as a major issue in his move. But politics likely played a major role as well.

The congressman won 52 percent of the vote in a 2008 race for the seat, which was open as a result of Democrat Bud Cramer’s retirement. But the district went to John McCain in the presidential election; the Republican got 61 percent of the vote to Barack Obama’s 38 percent. President Bush got 60 percent of the district’s residents in 2004. With numbers like that working against him, Griffith was seen as one of the most vulnerable Democratic members of Congress next year, even though he’d been voting against his party on major issues since being sworn in.

Republicans remain 40 seats away from taking back the House.

Politico’s Josh Kraushaar, who was the first to report Griffith’s decision, noted that the congressman already has more than $600,000 in the bank for his race next year, and at least $14,000 of it came from House Democratic leaders.

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Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon. More Alex Koppelman.