Christine O'Donnell: "I've Got Sean Hannity In My Back Pocket"

If you think the Delaware ditz Christine O'Donnell couldn't make things any worse for herself, too late - in a GOP strategy meeting, O'Donnell told her Republican bosses that she has conservative talk show host Sean Hannity in her "back pocket."

Christine O'Donnell may not be a witch, but she knows how to use scare tactics to raise money, top Republican strategists and officials here tell me.

They say the Delaware Republican is loudly complaining about how they won't support her -- and they are not -- as a way to generate angry, send-them-a-message donations from her Tea Party base.

Specifically, according to two top GOP insiders, she said at a strategy meeting with DC types last week: "I've got Sean Hannity in my back pocket, and I can go on his show and raise money by attacking you guys."

And that was precisely what she was doing on the radio today. On Hannity's popular afternoon drive-time show, the Tea Party-inspired Senate contender acidly criticized the party, specifically the National Republican Senatorial Committee, for not funneling any serious cash (beyond a pro forma $43,000) into her race against Democrat Chris Coons.

Now I normally would not have a problem with something like this - a television personality helping out a candidate - but there is something different about Sean Hannity - he works for Fox News, a media corporation that claims to be "fair and balanced."  Hannity's program blurs the line between news and opinion - it is not rare to see "breaking news" on Hannity's show or website (here is an example).

I agree with the author of the article and believe that O'Donnell's strategy is a losing one - she is banking on a small portion of the electorate, and while they may be paying her bills, she is going to have to do a lot more to convince the majority of voters that she is not some fringe politician.