WESTERLY — Dick Morris, a national political pundit and former strategist in the Clinton White House, was invited to Rhode Island to help Republican congressional candidate Mark Zaccaria.

Morris’ visit last night helped draw roughly 50 Republican supporters — including Governor Carcieri — to the Westerly Yacht Club in an event expected to raise $20,000.

But Morris, a regular Fox News Channel contributor, said little about his host. And in a room full of Republicans, his most passionate comments were barbs aimed at GOP presidential hopeful John McCain.

Earlier in the day, the House of Representatives rejected a $700-billion package aimed at averting a national economic collapse. McCain supported the deal.

“McCain sure as hell didn’t provide any leadership,” Morris said, standing alone in the center of a spacious room bordered by several dozen GOP contributors.

“This is a man who conceivably has a lot of courage — certainly showed it earlier in his life — but man, it was lacking over the last week,” Morris said. “I think his campaign staff and the Republican Party set the table for him, but he refused to sit down and eat the meal.”

Morris, who largely supports Republicans on issues like taxes and immigration, said he was “very disappointed” in McCain’s handling of the high-profile congressional vote.

“I think that he’s blown a very good opportunity to make a clear distinction between himself and [Sen. Barack] Obama on this bailout,” he said.

And Morris’ criticism of McCain continued.

He said that Democratic nominee Obama bested McCain in the most significant portion of last week’s nationally-televised debate, and that recent polls reflect growing support for the Illinois senator.

“I am not sure it’s going to be very easy for McCain to get those votes back,” Morris said. “Can McCain still win? Yes, he still can. I don’t at this point think he will.”

Morris spoke for roughly 40 minutes before Carcieri arrived, a little later than scheduled, and briefly took the microphone. Rhode Island’s Republican governor first noted that he was sorry he missed all of Morris’ comments, adding that he and First Lady Sue Carcieri watch him every night on Fox News.

Then, Carcieri discussed the failure of the economic package in the House earlier in the day. The problem, he said, was that it was framed as a “bailout for Wall Street.”

“That’s a non-starter for the average American,” Carcieri said. “It should have been sold as ‘stabilizing the banking system.’ ”

But the governor quickly turned the discussion to Zaccaria.

“I know it’s an uphill battle. It’s not easy to run in this state as a Republican for anything,” Carcieri said to a roomful of chuckles.

Indeed, Zaccaria — who describes himself as a “free-market person” who would have “held his nose” and voted for the $700-billion economic package — knows he is a long-shot in the race for Rhode Island’s 2nd Congressional District. He faces four-term incumbent James R. Langevin.

The money race suggests that Zaccaria has a lot of work to do with the election five weeks away.

Langevin had raised $664,981 through Aug. 20, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, and had $189,016 cash on hand at that time. Zaccaria had raised $36,686 and had just $7,363 on hand.

“If I’m successful in a fundraiser like this, if I can use some targeted broadcast advertising … I will have succeeded in at least one thing: that is to give the voters of the 2nd Congressional District a viable option,” Zaccaria said.

Langevin faced no opponent in the 2006 election.

State GOP Chairman Giovanni Cicione, reached before last night’s event, tried to be optimistic about Zaccaria’s situation.

“Mark has done an incredible job with his campaign given the limited resources he has,” Cicione said. “He’s raised a fairly respectable amount of money for a come-out-of-nowhere candidate.”

Zaccaria said yesterday that Morris would likely return for another fundraiser in the coming weeks.

speoples@projo.com