House GOP’s fate tied closely to McCain
By Aaron Blake of THE HILL
11/03/08

Facing double-digit losses on Tuesday, Rep. Tom Cole (Okla.) said Monday that House Republicans will rely heavily on presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), adding: “We certainly won’t do well if he doesn’t.” The chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) said on MSNBC that recent polling has given the GOP some optimism, but that it needs McCain’s help. “We’re linked pretty closely to John McCain,” Cole said, according to a transcript. “He rallied a little bit last week, closing the polls in a lot of places. That’s extraordinarily helpful to us. We certainly won’t do well if he doesn’t.”

The NRCC has relied on McCain at the top of the ballot, because it hasn’t been able to spend nearly as much money on individual races as its Democratic counterpart.
The vast majority of those races are being contested in districts that went for President Bush in 2000 and 2004.

The head of the Republicans’ Senate campaign committee, Sen. John Ensign (Nev.), has been critical of the McCain campaign for its handling of economic issues and its usage of vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.