COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) - Former senator and Republican White House hopeful Fred Thompson called on Democratic presidential candidates Monday to refund all donations received from MoveOn.org after the liberal advocacy group ran an ad attacking Gen. David Petraeus in The New York Times.
"I understand there's a front page ad that's been taken out by this outfit called MoveOn.org in the New York Times today," said Thompson at a campaign rally at Doc's Barbecue in this capital city. "And it basically accuses our general who's leading our troops in Iraq right now of betraying his own country. This outfit basically, in large part, funds the Democratic party. I call upon the Democratic party and all those Democratic contenders for the White House to disavow this libel against this brave American." (Related: Dems join GOP in slamming ad attacking Petraeus)
Moveon.org supporters have contributed over $108,000 to Democratic presidential candidates this year through the group’s political action committee, according to Federal Election Commission records. Sen. Barack Obama lead his party’s field in contributions received through Moveon.org, with just over $30,000 received since the start of his campaign. Rep. Dennis Kucinich received almost $25,000 compared to just over $23,000 for former Sen. John Edwards and $18,000 for New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. Sens. Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden each received between $5,000 and $6000, while Sen. Chris Dodd received just under $1000.
Earlier in the day, Sen. John Ensign, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, called on Democratic Senate candidates to return MoveOn.org donations. So far, only one Democratic Senate candidate, Tom Allen of Maine, has received money from the group, though the amount he has received, almost $250,000, makes up nearly half of the group’s total campaign contributions this year.
FEC records also show that Moveon.org has collected $176,000 from its supporters and distributed them to four vulnerable House Democrats.