Senate Candidate (RI) In Sticky Situation

Democratic Congressional Candidates who hope to use the corruption of the Republican Majority may have to turn a blind eye the race for the Senate seat currently held by Lincoln Chafee. Sen. Chafee faces a tough primary bid against Cranston Mayor Steven Laffey, and several Democrats are vying for their party's nomination. One of these Democrats, RI Secretary of State Matt Brown currently finds himself in campaign finance controversy. From Stu Rothenberg, via yesterday's Political Wire :

[Matt] Brown is in the center of a huge controversy, first reported by Roll Call reporter Lauren Whittington, with political opponents and journalists questioning whether he used Democratic state parties in Massachusetts, Maine, and Hawaii to launder funds that he otherwise would not have been able to accept. [...]

With many national and state party insiders already preferring [Sheldon] Whitehouse[former RI Attorney General and Brown's major competition for the Democratic nod], Brown may well be forced to spend his time and resources defending himself during an embarrassing Federal Election Commission investigation that will likely ensue. His outsider/reformer message is at least compromised, and much of the good will that he created from his initial wave of ads is likely to dissipate.

How does Brown respond to these allegations? He accuses his opponent, Whitehouse, of going negative and tries to raise more money. Here's the text of an e-mail he sent to supporters yesterday:

Dear [Supporter],
At a time when Rhode Islanders are looking for leaders who will focus on solving the problems people are facing and getting results, Sheldon Whitehouse has decided to go negative with personal attacks on me and my campaign.
Yesterday, Whitehouse's top campaign consultant made false, negative and personal attacks on my character that should have absolutely no place in this campaign.

It's clear why he has decided to go negative -- recent polls show I've gained 25 points since last fall and am now leading Whitehouse and am tied with Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee. In 2002, Whitehouse promised not to run a negative campaign -- but broke that promise and attacked another Democrat in the primary. This year, he made the same promise -- and he just broke it.

I need your help to defend myself against these negative attacks.
So, while Sheldon Whitehouse is launching personal attacks against me -- let's fight back and show him there is no place for that in this campaign. He didn't get away with running a negative campaign against other Democrats in 2002. Let's not let him get away with it this year either.

Please consider contributing $10, $25, $50 or more to my campaign today so we will have the resources to fight back and win in September and November.

Volunteer to help reach out to Rhode Islanders.

We need to stand up and work harder than ever to win this election. Whitehouse touts his political insider support but we know that does not win elections -- people win elections!

Thank you for your outpouring of support over the past two days condemning Whitehouse's actions. Let's fight back and show him we will not stand for it.
Thank you,

[Matt]

This assures the Democratic primary to be as nasty as the Republican, so long as Brown can keep raising enough money to stay in it. If the Democratic primary is as nasty as it could be, and Chafee wins the GOP primary, its going to be tough for the Dems to take this seat.

-->For more of my thoughts on this race: Chafee Challenger Lands Club For Growth Endorsement

UPDATE (3/3/06 - 6:09 PM): Here's a breakdown of the contributions in question: http://www.tray.com/cgi-win/x_ptytoc.exe?DoFn=S6RI00213BROWN,$MATTHEW$A06