e may not be getting support from the Massachusetts Republican Party, but Senate candidate Jack E. Robinson is trying to give a little back anyway.
Robinson, the Republican challenger to US Senator Edward M. Kennedy, announced this week that he is donating about $10,000 of his own money to 78 Republican candidates across the state, in contested races for everything from the state Senate to the Governor's Council to Middlesex register of probate.
''It's something I feel I need to do to help rebuild our party,'' Robinson said.
Helping other candidates is not a new idea; federal campaign finance reports show that the Massachusetts congressional delegation has spent millions of campaign dollars in the last 20 months, largely to help other Democrats across the country run for Congress.
For his part, Robinson said he's trying to bolster the state Republican Party, which has had notorious trouble recruiting candidates.
''I just think we can do more. We can do better,'' Robinson said.
Robinson said he expects nothing in return. But he is giving at a time that his own fund-raising efforts have faltered. Though he once vowed to raise $7 million for his own campaign, federal campaing finance reports show that he raised $154,095 over the 20 months ending Aug. 30.
Robinson is getting no help, fund-raising or otherwise, from the state Republican party. GOP leaders, including Governor Paul Cellucci, embraced Robinson at the outset of his campaign in March. But they withdrew their support soon afterward, in the wake of embarrassing revelations about Robinson's personal life.
State GOP officials declined to comment on Robinson's latest donations.
