Dr. Andy Harris, fiscal conservative

From Eric Dondero:

Republicans have their best shot to pick off a seat on Maryland's Eastern shore. Dr. Andy Harris is running for the second time against incumbent Democrat Rep. Frank Kratovil. Harris lost in 2008 by a few thousand votes. The very latest poll finds Harris ahead by 11 points.

See our article from last week on Andy Harris "Republicans set to gain one on Delmarva Peninsula."

But in a last ditch effort, the Democrats are boosting the candidacy of the Libertarian Party candidate.

A pattern across the country, Dems propping up LP candidates

Just breaking from the Baltimore Sun "Democrats promoting Libertarian to undermine Harris":

In what appears to be a national pattern, the Democratic Party is highlighting a longshot third-party candidate in an effort to undermine a Republican nominee--in this case, Andy Harris, the GOP challenger in Maryland's tightest House race.

The tactic is either a desperation move, or a sign of how close the contest is, or both. It has special resonance in Maryland's First District, where the Libertarian candidate's two percent of the vote arguably tipped the historically Republican seat to Democrat Frank Kratovil in '08.

The Democratic mailer, first reported by Eastern Shore blogger Michael Swartz, masquerades as an attack on Richard Davis, the third man in the race, running again this year on the Libertarian line, with no realistic chance of winning.

Paid for by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the flier describes Davis, twice, as an outsider and Tea Party type.

Davis "plans to cut government spending, will drastically reduce the size of government across the board, is a complete outsider . . . Davis and the Tea Party think government is part of the problem, and want to make it as small as possible."

"Richard Davis: Is he too conservative?" asks the mail piece.

Libertarian candidate denies any role in the mailing

Later in the piece:

The audience for the flier appears to be conservative voters. The barely disguised ploy to pull votes away from the Republican is a tactic Democrats are using elsewhere, too.

In Illinois, Democrats are promoting another Libertarian candidate, Mike Labno, in an attempt to cut into Republican Senate nominee Mark Kirk's support in conservative southern Illinois, the Wall Street Journal reported this week.

A second mailer that portrays the Libertarian as more serious than Harris about deficit reduction also went out recently in the district, according to blogger Mark Newgent. The piece does not say who paid for it, but Davis has issued a statement saying that neither he nor the Libertarian Party had any involvement in the mailing.

From the press release:

"neither the Maryland Libertarian Party nor Dr. Davis' campaign had any involvement or prior knowledge of this mailing and both entities do not support, encourage or endorse this type of activity."

Ironically, Harris is considered to be a strong fiscal conservative, even libertarian-leaning candidate. He was backed heavily in 2008, and again this year, by the economic libertarian group Club for Growth.