A Republican Senatorial candidate was interviewed by Dana Milbank and eight other reporters from newspapers, magazines and networks under the condition that he be identified “Only as a GOP Senate candidate.”

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The candidate, immersed in one of the most competitive Senate races in the country, sat down to lunch yesterday with reporters at a Capitol Hill steakhouse and shared his views about this year’s political currents.

On the Iraq war: “It didn’t work. . . . We didn’t prepare for the peace.”

On the response to Hurricane Katrina: “A monumental failure of government.”

On the national mood: “There’s a palpable frustration right now in the country.”

It’s all fairly standard Democratic boilerplate — except the candidate is a Republican . And he’s getting all kinds of cooperation from the White House, the Republican National Committee and GOP congressional leaders.

Not that he necessarily wants it. “Well, you know, I don’t know,” the candidate said when asked if he wanted President Bush to campaign for him. Noting Bush’s low standing in his home state, he finally added: “To be honest with you, probably not.”

The candidate gave the luncheon briefing to nine reporters from newspapers, magazines and networks under the condition that he be identified only as a GOP Senate candidate. When he was pressed to go on the record, his campaign toyed with the idea but got cold feet. He was anxious enough to air his gripes but cautious enough to avoid a public brawl with the White House.

Still, his willingness to speak so critically, if anonymously, about the party he will represent on Election Day points to a growing sense among Republicans that if they are to retain their majorities in Congress, they may have to throw the president under the train in all but the safest, reddest states.

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Who is this mystery man?

Is it John Kyle, Rick Santorum, Lincoln Chaffee, George Allen…Mike Dewine, Jim Talent, John Ensign?

We know the candidate is a male from a blue state so we can leave Kay Bailey Hutchison out of the mix…..

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It’s not an ideological matter. Even as he berated the president, the candidate allowed that he opposes a pullout from Iraq, agrees with Bush’s veto of human embryonic stem cell research, and supports constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage and flag burning.

“He’s the best!” cheered Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) when he stopped in to shake the candidate’s hand during the lunch yesterday.

But if such affection is mutual, the candidate did not always show it. “We’ve lost our way, we’ve gone to the well and we drank the water, and we shouldn’t have,” he said of congressional Republicans. “You don’t go to Congress to become the party that you’ve been fighting for 40 years.” Lamenting “the spending, the finger-pointing, not getting the bills passed,” he counseled: “Just shut up and get something done.”

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Whoever this senate candidate is, to him, media attention is more important than party loyalty.

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It’s not an ideological matter. Even as he berated the president, the candidate allowed that he opposes a pullout from Iraq, agrees with Bush’s veto of human embryonic stem cell research, and supports constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage and flag burning.

“He’s the best!” cheered Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) when he stopped in to shake the candidate’s hand during the lunch yesterday.

But if such affection is mutual, the candidate did not always show it. “We’ve lost our way, we’ve gone to the well and we drank the water, and we shouldn’t have,” he said of congressional Republicans. “You don’t go to Congress to become the party that you’ve been fighting for 40 years.” Lamenting “the spending, the finger-pointing, not getting the bills passed,” he counseled: “Just shut up and get something done.”

*****

It doesn’t get any better.

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The candidate looked the part of the contender, wearing a monogrammed shirt, his French cuffs sprouting cuff links coordinated with his necktie. He ate carefully, removing the gelatinous yolk from the four-minute egg in his salad. But he spoke with little caution as he ladled a heaping portion of criticism on his own party.

*****

French cuffs? Persnickety about his eggs?

Sigh.

I’m listening to the Laura Ingraham radio show right now and she’s interviewing Rick Santorum and he’s denied being the interviewee and he doesn’t strike me as the one anyway. It’s probably Lincoln Chaffee.

UPDATE: Jim Geraghty is speculating that Mr. Crabcake is Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, Republican Senatorial candidate, Maryland.

If it is Steele (and I am persuaded it is) while I still support his candidacy I don’t think it was wise for him to speak to the likes of Dana Milbank whether anonymously or not. It’s naive in the extreme. Milbank wrote the article in such a way to let slip just enough info for curious bloggers to figure it out. AllahPundit and Jim Geraghty are pretty persuasive in their analysis.

Steele is tied in some polls with his Democrat opponent and losing in others. Steele should know by now there is no need to speak to reporters who would just as soon see him lose and it’s well known that Dana Milbank has no love for Republicans. So why did Steele give him the ammunition?

I wonder if Milbank is playing Arthur Dimmesdale or Roger Chillingworth?

Hot Air has more speculation.

UPDATE:It was Steele.