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Opinion: Orrin Hatch uses the “J” word--Jane Fonda--to raise GOP money

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In the world of political fund-raising, there are certain stand-bys that, at least in the view of some, can be counted on to bring in a few bucks.

They don’t have to be fair. Nor do they have to be accurate. That’s not the point. The goal is to raise money. Orrin Hatch sent out one letter that sought to hit several such themes, all of them aimed at convincing men over the age of 50 to give to Senate Republicans, not Hatch who was re-elected in 2006.

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“You’d think it was the 1970s all over again,” the letter opens.

The Utah Republican took a whack at Barack Obama for being like Jimmy Carter, then raised the specter of Iran “saber rattling against the West.” And then Hatch let lose with what he hopes would be the coup de grace: “Hanoi Jane.”

That of course is the epithet that conservatives pinned on actress Jane Fonda back when she led protests against the Vietnam war and visited Hanoi to denounce U.S. policy and be photographed sitting in an anti-aircraft battery.

“Hanoi Jane Fonda is stumping for liberal Senate candidates,” Hatch declared in a fund-raising letter “That’s right … Jane Fonda and all of her far-left Hollywood liberal friends are expected to raise $1 million for Democrat Senate candidates.”

Hatch invokes ‘Hollywood liberals’ three more times in the pitch.

California has never been particularly friendly turf for Hatch. Campaign finance reports show he has received $2,000 from California since the start of 2007.

In his 2006 campaign, Hatch raised $272,000 in California, 5 percent of the $4.8 million he raised.

“I don’t speak for Jane any more but this is just typical, stupid, lame, pathetic right wing ranting,” said Stephen Rivers, the Santa Monica consultant who used to represent Fonda. He added that ‘attacks on Jane are and always have been based on a false premise: that she is an unpopular public figure, when all of the measures over the years … demonstrate otherwise.”

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Hatch’s missive isn’t particularly accurate. Fonda, who could not be reached, hasn’t lived in California in well more than a decade. She lives in Atlanta. Nor is she much involved in politics these days.

Federal Election Commission records show she has given a grand total of $4,850 to federal candidates since January 2007, including $2,300 to Obama, $2,300 to Hillary Clinton, and $250 to John Lewis, the Atlanta Democrat.

For years, her big cause has been combating teen pregnancy. She is founder and chair of the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention. But, of course, that doesn’t play so well in Republican fundraising pitches.

Rebecca Fisher, spokeswoman for the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, would not say how much the letter raised. But Republican senators have raised $67.7 million to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s $103 million.

--Dan Morain

By the way, you need no fundraising to get free instant alerts on all Ticket items like this flashed direct to your cellphone by registering here at Twitter.

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