Watchdog group calls on McCain to cancel Atlanta fund-raiser

Ralph Reed's standing in national GOP circles is getting a test.

Campaign Money Watch, a campaign finance watchdog group, has just called on Republican presidential candidate John McCain to cancel plans for an Aug. 18 fund-raiser in Atlanta hosted in part by Reed, the former state GOP chairman and ex-leader of the Christian Coalition.

Here's the original post that sparked the response.

The organization cites Reed's association with Jack Abramoff, the disgraced Washington lobbyist now in federal prison for influence-peddling. Reed lost an ‘06 bid for lieutenant governor, largely because of revelations of that relationship - uncovered by McCain's Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

"Will the real John McCain stand up, already?" asked David Donnelly, director of Campaign Money Watch. "Sen. McCain knows exactly how Ralph Reed helped Jack Abramoff defraud Indian tribes out of tens of millions of dollars, and how Reed lobbied on Abramoff's behalf to protect sweatshop owners in the Northern Mariana Islands. Sen. McCain should spare himself any further embarrassment by canceling this event immediately. Whose help will he accept next? Tom DeLay's?"

Update: A call to the McCain campaign by my colleague Aaron Gould Sheinin produced this response from Republican National Committee spokeswoman Katie Wright:

"I find it laughable they would go this route, considering Senator McCain chaired the Senate Indian Affairs Committee that investigated Jack Abramoff. I suggest they take a closer look at Barack Obama's friends like convicted felon Tony Rezko or his National Co-Chairman Harry Reid, who took nearly $68,000 from Abramoff."