Dear Friend,

If you really want to scare your friends, I recommend dressing as a Washington Republican.

Here's a group of people so shameful they oppose the SCHIP bill that would give health insurance to ten million children. On top of that, they launched a vicious political attack on a twelve-year-old boy, Graeme Frost, who suffered a near-fatal car accident, after he delivered a radio address imploring the President to sign the children's health care bill. They went to his house, spread lies about his parents' finances and even posted his address on a website so his family could be harassed.

I've seen low in my day, but attacking Graeme Frost is really the bottom of the barrel -- and this is only the beginning. In 2008, desperately trying to return to power, Republicans are bound to turn their smear machine on Harry Reid. We have to make sure he has the resources to fight back on behalf of all Democrats.

Fight the Republican smear machine -- make a contribution to Harry Reid today.

After launching their attack on the twelve-year-old boy, Republicans ran away from responsibility until the media finally caught on to their dirty game.

Republican staffers were giving anonymous quotes to reporters proclaiming they had not been involved -- but it turned out they were helping smear the kid's family by sending emails stating his parents should not be eligible for the program because the father owned his own business, and Graeme and his sister attend private school.

Well the truth is, both children were on scholarship, and even the conservative editorial board of the Wall Street Journal wrote, "It turns out, they belonged to just the sort of family that a modest SCHIP bill is supposed to help."

We can expect more of these attacks in the year to come. If Republicans were boxers, they'd spend most of their time hitting below the belt. Well, we beat them and their ugly tactics in 2006, and we'll do it again next year, but Harry Reid needs your support right now.

Fight the Republican smear machine -- make a contribution to Harry Reid today.

Thank you,

James Carville