Sam Stein at Huffington post:| Updated: 10-19-10 05:34 PM
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/19/john-raese-country-club_n_768711.htmlIn the process of touting his credentials for the office, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh may have inadvertently caused West Virginia Senate candidate John Raese a major political headache.
"I happen to know John Raese," Limbaugh said, in a segment late last week that endorsed Raese's candidacy. "He is a part-time resident here in Palm Beach and he has a locker right across the, right across the bench from me at a prominent local club. I've never played golf with him, but I've met him."
Limbaugh's remarks provided a revelatory detail about Raese's biography that the candidate himself had, up till that point, kept out of the press. And as news sites pointed out at the time, it added to the somewhat damaging frame that the conservative business owner is not an authentic West Virginian.
The problem for Raese, however, could be deeper than the optics of his part-time Florida residency and membership to a "prominent local club" suddenly surfacing. The club that Limbaugh appeared to have been referring to was the Everglades Club in Palm Beach, an upper crust scene for the predominantly white, ChristianPalm Beach elite.
Membership in the Everglades Club actually landed Limbaugh in hot water roughly one year ago when he was part of a bid to buy ownership of the St. Louis Rams football franchise. Among the more unflattering aspects that surfaced then was that while the club had no formal membership guidelines, as of 2008 it had never let in a black member and there had only been one Jewish member in its history.
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