Dan Quayle Makes E-Mail Pitch for Son Ben Quayle
Ben Quayle received some last-minute help yesterday from his father, former Vice President Dan Quayle, in his campaign to represent Arizona's third congressional district.
Quayle is in a brutal 10-way Republican primary battle for retiring Rep. John Shadegg's open seat. He's raised more money than any of his opponents and has more name recognition, but Quayle has been hounded by allegations that he wrote for the now-defunct, raunchy gossip website DirtyScottsdale.com, which now exists as TheDirty.com.
Dan Quayle sent Ben's supporters an e-mail Monday night, Politico reports, in which he addressed the allegations, writing, "With the recent turn of events, I cannot, in good conscience, remain silent."
Ben Quayle's leading opponent, businessman Steve Moak, ran an ad hammering Quayle for his association with the site.
"I took my fair share of outrageous slams in politics, but Steve Moak's vicious smear against my son is over the top and unprecedented," Dan Quayle wrote. "I have never in my 35 years of politics seen such an ugly, slanderous assault in the closing days of a campaign against a fellow Republican."
CBSNews.com Special Report: Campaign 2010
Ben Quayle initially denied posting to the website but later acknowledged he posted some comments.
The prominent candidate managed to turn the spotlight away from the website temporarily with his own brash political ad, in which he says, "Barack Obama is the worst president in history."
Quayle has raised more than $1.3 million in campaign funds with the help of his father, Politico reports, while Moak has managed to raise $547,000 and contributed $300,000 of his own money to his campaign.
The candidates are up against a number of other very conservative opponents, Politics Daily reports. They include Vernon Parker, the African-American mayor of Paradise Valley who was endorsed by controversial Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, as well as Pamela Gorman, a 41-year-old state senator who co-sponsored Arizona's controversial immigration bill and ran a campaign ad featuring her firing a Thompson sub-machine gun (watch the ad here).
