April 15, 2010 05:05 PM UTC

NRSC has not endorsed Norton

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• by: Jason Salzman

In an otherwise excellent article about the recent fortunes of U.S. Senate candidate Ken Buck, who’s battling Jane Norton (and Tom Wiens and others) for the chance to go up against U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, The Post wrote today that the National Republican Senatorial Committee has endorsed Norton. This isn’t true.

The Post wrote:

The fund [Senate Conservatives Fund] has given money to those in competition with candidates endorsed by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, like Norton.The fund has given $343,000 to Marco Rubio, the Tea Party candidate polling ahead of Crist in Florida’s Senate race.

It’s actually understandable that The Post would think Norton was endorsed by the NRSC. She has deep ties to and financial support from the Washington GOP establishment, including Lobbyists and politicians there, as The Post reported back in October in an article stating that “Norton also is presumed to have the support of the National Republican Senatorial Committee….”

Before she launched her campaign officially, The Post reported:

“Her entry would bring the field to six declared Republican candidates, although Norton is expected to get the backing of the national senatorial committee and most of the state’s GOP power brokers.”

Also, before Norton launched her campaign, the NRSC registered two domain names for Norton: nortonforsenate.com and janenortonforsenate.com, creating a backlash from Tea Party activists, like Buck, who reportedly was considering abandoning the race before the NRSC got involved.

But a spokeswoman for the NRSC confirmed to me this morning that the NRSC has not endorsed Norton.