Limbaugh raises cash for NY Democrat

We're not kidding. Rush Limbaugh was taunting Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe last week for refusing to fulfill the party's financial pledge to Carl McCall, the Democratic candidate for Governor of New York. With McCall's once-promising campaign languishing, national leaders had decided that the party's resources would be better spent elsewhere. But Limbaugh tore into McAuliffe for abandoning the first black candidate to head the New York ticket and urged listeners to step into the breech and help out McCall.

As far as we could tell, Limbaugh's call for donations was tongue-in-cheek, but some listeners apparently took him literally. According to NewsMax.com, McCall was heard Sunday on WABC-AM (coincidentally, where Limbaugh's show airs) thanking the arch-conservative for the on-air fundraiser.

"We've been flooded with dollars from all over the country from people who say, 'I heard from Rush Limbaugh and he told me to send money' and they're mailing in dollars," McCall was quoted as telling WABC's Steve Malzberg.

Despite getting the cash infusion, polls show incumbent Republican Governor George Pataki with a double-digit lead over McCall going into today's voting.