Is RGA gambit aimed at McCain?

Is the Republican Governors Association looking to boost John McCain?

A recent Wall Street Journal article offers another motive for the GOP group's national fundraising efforts in North Carolina's gubernatorial race: bringing more voters to the polls for Republican Pat McCrory should help McCain win the presidency, Dan Kane reports.

"We are the equalizer in this campaign," said Nick Ayers, the association's executive director, in the article. A contributor to the association also mentioned the strategy to the Journal.

Association spokesman Chris Schrimpf told The News & Observer that there was no such strategy.

He said association leaders were merely pointing out that competitive governors races would naturally bring more Republicans to the polls, and those voters would likely support McCain.

Schrimpf wrote a rebuttal letter printed in the Journal a week after the July 3 article that said:

"It is basic political science that the party as a whole benefits when we have well-run gubernatorial races and more Republican governors. The article took the obvious political truism that strong gubernatorial tickets strengthen their respective tickets, and stretched it beyond recognition to create a story where there is none."

More after the jump.

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In the past two months, the association's North Carolina political action committee has raised nearly $390,000 to promote Charlotte Mayor McCrory for governor. Because of a recent change in state law, the committee can raise unlimited contributions from individuals, and most of the $390,000 comes from 10 out-of-state people, including top executives from Coors Brewing Co. and the Curves fitness chain.

One contributor told The News & Observer he did not know his $25,000 was going toward the North Carolina PAC, though he said he did not have a problem with it. Another contributor, listed as giving $100, later told The Associated Press that she might not contribute again after learning her money went to the PAC.

The association's PAC is legal in North Carolina, so long as it does not work in concert with McCrory's campaign. The Journal article said campaign finance experts have differing opinions as to whether the PAC could run afoul of federal election law if the PAC was to explicitly aid McCain's campaign.