NRCC invests in Horn

WASHINGTON – The National Republican Congressional Committee, faced with an increasingly difficult electoral map, is making a last-ditch effort to widen the playing field.

Today the cash-strapped committee contributed a little over $80,000 in coordinated funds to help Republican U.S. House candidate Jennifer Horn run a television advertisement targeting U.S. Rep. Paul Hodes (D-Concord).

"As a mom, I know it's hard to make ends meat," Horn says at the outset of the 30-second spot. "Families pay for Congress's bad economic decisions and Republicans and Democrats share blame. In Congress, Paul Hodes's committee oversees financial companies. But Paul Hodes took money from the mortgage and banking companies instead of working to avoid this crisis. And he voted to pave the way for the largest tax increase in history. We deserve better."

Horn, a former radio talk show host, is widely seen as the underdog in the race for New Hampshire's 2nd Congressional District seat. Hodes is running for his second term after ousting Republican Charlie Bass in 2006.

The NRCC is allowed to spend up to $84,000 in coordinated funds with Horn’s campaign.

Democrats raced to denounce the ad and the NRCC's involvement in the race, saying that the committee has taken $400,000 in contributions from financial institutions.

"Jennifer Horn is good at saying one thing while she does another. Negative attacks and right-wing Bush talking points are what we have come to expect from Jennifer Horn," said New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Raymond Buckley. "She is biting the hand that feeds her. Bush National Republicans are funding her with the very same PAC money she is criticizing Paul Hodes for taking. New Hampshire voters deserve better."