But I’m already sizing up Operation Counterweight Senate races for 2014.
Don’t look back is my motto.
Roll Call has a list of Senate races and assessments. Do any of them have serious primary challengers? Lindsay Graham seems like he could be vulnerable in theory, but I wonder if in practice. Susan Collins is the best we can do in Maine (I would have supported Olympia Snowe for the same reason had she not retired.)
“Likely Republican”
Georgia: Saxby Chambliss
Kentucky: Mitch McConnell
“Safe Republican”
Alabama: Jeff Sessions
Idaho: Jim Risch
Kansas: Pat Roberts
Mississippi: Thad Cochran
Nebraska: Mike Johanns
Maine: Susan Collins
Oklahoma: James M. Inhofe
South Carolina: Lindsey Graham
Tennessee: Lamar Alexander
Texas: John Cornyn
Wyoming: Michael B. Enzi
On the Democratic side, there a a large number of vulnerable incumbents rated as “Toss-Ups”:
Alaska: Mark Begich
Arkansas: Mark Pryor
Louisiana: Mary L. Landrieu
North Carolina: Kay Hagan
South Dakota: Tim Johnson
West Virginia: Jay Rockefeller
And others rated only “Leans Democratic”:
Minnesota: Al Franken
Montana: Max Baucus
New Hampshire: Jeanne Shaheen
My early thought is to focus on Republican primaries in Toss-up states, rather than challenging Republican incumbents.
Your thoughts?
Update: Charles sends along links to the 2014 Senate Preview at Daily Kos:
I’m guessing we lose Ark ,NC and SD, and maybe gain an Indy in Collins before 2014 – if things go badly we’ll lose Franken and Begich. Still enough of a cushion to put us at 50-52 if things go bad. After that we’d be talking about losing NH and CO, in which case you can probably kiss MT and LA goodbye in an anti-Dem wave like in 2010.
And also the assessment at “Citizens United” (not sure if it’s that Citizens United). You will find this Republican primary assessment of interest:
Kentucky-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell may face a primary challenge from his right. There really isn’t a logical basis for this, but it may very well happen anyway. McConnell is a savvy politician with a massive war chest. He’s also avoided any votes that could be used against him. I don’t take a potential challenge very seriously, although a deal with President Obama to raise taxes could completely alter this outlook.Maine-Susan Collins is the last of the moderate New England Republicans. Her ideological twin Olympia Snowe retired last year. It is possible Collins will do the same. If she does not she will most likely face a primary challenge. The Maine Republican primary electorate is quite conservative, a serious challenger would stand a real chance. If Collins is not the Republican nominee Democrats will be strong favorites to win this seat.South Carolina-Lindsey Graham is the best candidate to be this cycle’s Richard Lugar. Graham is conservative, but not as conservative as you would expect a Senator from South Carolina to be. He has shown a willingness to work with Democrats on immigration, climate change, and other issues. He also voted to confirm both Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagen to the Supreme Court. Graham is a ripe target for a primary challenge and would probably be a slight underdog. Regardless of who the nominee is, this seat will be won by the Republicans.
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Comments
Here in Georgia, I sure hope we can get conservative in his or her 40’s, or 50’s at the latest, to go after Senator Saxby Chambliss, a pure Republican Reach-Across-the-Asle Democrat lte…I would like someone who is young enough to be around to build up some power and seniority…Next, Hermain Cain, unfortunately, are not young enough for this
I would venture to say there is no such thing as a “Safe Republican” anymore. I watched a Safe Republican in my NY district lose to a moron. Rather than Don’t Look Back, I’d say to candidates Learn to Play the Game. Get in the Fight. Work Harder to get out the voter. Don’t take ANYTHING for granted. Declare War.
Two points!
1. Senator Palin, R-Alaska. Either Palin would do well.
2. W.A.J.: You’re a mean and cruel person.
🙂
If Palin hopes to be President someday, she needs to take this step, and win. Begich would have lost badly to Ted Stevens had the feds not trumped up a BS case against him. As it was he barely beat a convicted felon.
I’d like to see a GOOD firm Conservative challenge John Cornyn here in Texas.
I don’t think Cornyn is the anti-Christ, and DO credit him for being a pretty good Texas Supreme Court justice.
But a Louie Gohmert or one of those guys whose name I can’t recall…they could better represent the Conservatives in Texas.
Great idea. Get Todd Aiken. He should do the job you want. We will get rid of Cornyn and have a democrat replace him.
None of this crap matters.
Tell that to Charlie Christ or Dick Lugar
Landrieu: We need someone who will point out the failures of leftist social policies in New Orleans, the failures of the Fed during the oil spill, and is unafraid to tie Landrieu to Obama.
Franken is a smug piece of sh*t who deserves a humiliating defeat. I don’t care if the candidate is pro-abortion or whatever. Just beat Franken like a rented mule.
As for Chambliss, point out the perks of office and ask what he’s really accomplished on behalf of the State of Georgia. Time to bring the ol’ boy home.
McConnell: Worthless. Fire him. What are the other Ron Paul kids doing these days?
I find it quite amazin. People are already looking at safe repub seats, who may not be as conservative, in red states, and already looking to toss them aside for some nutjob who can’t keep his damn mouth shut about rape, like Todd Akin or Richard Murcdock.
dems, these people are pure garbage, but they work every MSM line, work everything in their power to get these garbage people in, like Al franken, etc.
my prediction, knowing how 2012 went with Akin, Murdock, repubs will lose seats.
I’ve lost all faith that repubs have any sense on how dirty the demonrats play, and repubs/conservative fall for it, every single damn time!
Maybe Franken won’t carry the felon vote this time. Oh, wait. It’s Minnesota, right? You could
busfly people in from Kazakhstan, and they could register ‘day-of’ in MN, WI, IL and MI, right?Nev’r mind.
I agree with Prof. Jacobson that Republicans should focus on Democratic Senators and toss-up seats. Democrats will do their best to unseat the current Republican Senators. There will be plenty of time to primary Republican Senators with more conservative candidates after the GOP has retaken the Senate.
To replace Lindsey Graham, please consider drafting Jeff Schreiber, who founded the blog America’s Right and practices law in Charleston, SC. Jeff once vowed to run against Lindsey Graham in the primaries if no other credible candidate stepped forward (sorry no link – I cannot find the post where he wrote this long ago).
Here are two of Jeff’s posts that will introduce you to his ideas:
http://americasright.com/2010/03/30/its-lights-out-for-the-economy-as-three-senators-introduce-new-energy-bill/
http://americasright.com/2009/06/27/an-open-letter-to-the-president/
If you are not already familiar with Jeff’s writings, please spend some time strolling through his blog archives. Then make Jeff WANT to keep his impetuous promise to run against Graham. What steps that might require I don’t know — I only know him through years of reading his blog. He would be an excellent replacement for Graham. Can the blogosphere draft and elect a true conservative/libertarian/blogger/lawyer to replace a feckless RINO? Yes we can!
Great idea. Get Richard “rape is God’s will” Mourdock. He should do the job you want. We will get rid of Graham and have a democrat replace him. I don’t like Graham either, but he would be better than any democrat.
You are a shameless liar. Mourdock did not say that, and you have no right to claim he did. Go jump in the lake.
The BIG TIME RINO/AMNESTY pushers, Lindsey Graham and John Cornyn MUST GO!!!!!!
Certainly there are true Conservatives available to replace these socialist-lites, yes?
Those 13 R seats you listed is the ENTIRE list of R seats that are up in 2014. 11 Safe, 2 Likely.
The D’s have 20 seats up.
That’s a very good starting point for a good Senate year.
Here’s a map:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_elections,_2014
The only R seat in even moderately blue territory is Collins’ Maine seat. I’m with the professor: she sucks but is likely the best we can hope for from Maine.
On challenging incumbent RINO’s though. I disagree entirely. Graham is HORRIBLE on judicial nominations. Worse, he’s on the Senate Judiciary committee. This means that some nominees that shouldn’t even make it out of committee do so because Graham believes that “elections have consequences” and he should go along with whoever Obama nominates. Apparently, his OWN election does not have the ‘consequence’ that it should: him opposing liberal nominees. He’s also horrible on immigration.
Seriously, Graham deserves a strong primary opponent more than any R in the entire Senate. He’s FAR more liberal than his state.
We can also do better than Chambliss and Cornyn.
Now that we have Ted Cruz in the Senate I feel that it is time for Cornyn to face a challenge. He has been safe as the more conservative of Texas Senators. And he has been as strong in leadership as tepid dirty dishwater.
If we focus only on the weak Democrats we leave the weak Republicans in place. What good will victory do only to return to handing over that victory to a minority Democrat party, again and again?
Over and over the “go along to get along” crowd insists we have to become Dem-Lites in order to win. And EVERY election shows that this is WRONG! The Democrats win against strong conservatives ONLY when the RNC denies them money, when the outgoing RNC choice is a petulant, whiny little git who insists on throwing support to the Democrat.
If the RNC doesn’t want to support conservatives it is time for the RNC to become a deceased entity, devoid of contributors. Without money they will be a “used to be” like the Whigs.
Be it Tea Party or be it Libertarian we MUST focus on eliminating the dirty skeleton that is the RNC. They have no focus besides retaining power and they have no vision beyond doing what their enemies tell them they must do to win.
To defeat the continuing evil of the Left as they force our nation into the pit of history we must resist, jettisoning any who fail to keep the faith.
A message must be sent to Congress. Your personal power is poison if you use it to further yourself at the expense of the nation. We will react to poison by rejecting it.
Focus on the democrat seats. We do not need another circular firing squad.
In the name of all that’s holy, get behind every sitting Republican and back the most electable GOP candidates against every one of those nine Democrats. Anyone who thinks it would not matter if Republicans now controlled the Senate, even by one vote — an entirely possible scenario if five seats had not gratuitously been given away by ideological intransigence — is either crazy or just plain dumb.
That cuts both ways. Is it better to bleed slowly to ‘death,’ or get it over quick (an potentially move on to something better)?
The GOP had better get new leadership ASAP or there will be a permanent third party by 2016 — that is a guarantee.
Two who have got to go — right now now — are Boehner and Reince Peanutbuttercup (or whatever his name is).
What have you got against Preibus?
He restored the RNC. I’ve had it with the Republican establishment (maybe, Preibus is part of it), but Preibus put the RNC back on solid footing and how are you going to run elections across the country without a viable RNC? See the weekly standard article at the link.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/reince-rules_650800.html
I agree. Reince has got to go. I thought he looked like the president of a college glee club AND he was a poor spokesman to boot. He was a step up from the previous dolt but poor nonetheless. JC Watts has indicated some interest and he would be a home run. Newt would be a grand slam home run but he probably thinks that job is too small.
Please no more soft Tea Party candidates. No more confused candidates who get tripped up on the most basic abortion questions. We need forceful, experienced people who are likable.
I saw Priebus on TV a few dozen times, I thought he did a fantastic job.
He was infinitely better than Michael Steele. Every time a reporter would ask Steele a question based on Democrat talking points (ie. just about every interview) he would start his response by agreeing with the premise. Then, we’d be in damage control for a full week after.
Priebus never once did that. He pushed back effectively against the bogus premises of the reporters questions. Then turned the issue around and attacked the D’s. He wasn’t quite on Newt’s level doing this, but he was better than anyone else I’ve seen.
He was also a very effective fund raiser, as logos said: he put the RNC back on solid financial footing. That’s no small thing.
I linked to an article in the Tip Line several days ago in which where Karl Rove said he is seriously considering spending money to defeat Republican primary challengers if he does not like the candidate. I suspect Rove and Cornyn are pretty tight, and anybody who challenges Cornyn will be up against Rove’s treasure chest (if he’s still able to raise dough after his disastrous performance this cycle).
Rove and the establishment RINOs are going to fight hard to hold their seats when challenged by Tea Partiers. Tea Partiers are a bigger threat to RINOs than Democrats. We Tea Partiers really want to cut government. The establishment RINOs just want to be in charge of the committees that hand out the dough they confiscate from us.
Maybe not a bad thing, depending on how selective he is (no, I don’t trust him either). Would he have opposed Cruz for Dewhurst? Rubio for Crist? I’m happy to have Lugar gone and think Mourdock could have won if he’d only been taught that reporters are the enemy and exist to destroy R candidates. However, there are weak nominees that simply don’t have the pull to win statewide (like, say Sharron Angle).
Ok, I’m coming up short on examples where I think Rove would have done anything other than block a solid conservative to protect an incumbent RINO. I’d rather he stuck to supporting R’s in the general election.
Not that I’m opposed to SuperPacs in the primaries, just that I’d prefer the people making the decisions be capable of identifying rising conservative stars and backing them, even if it means opposing an incumbent moderate. This is not a skill Rove possesses.
On the other hand, the Tea Party can really help by being very engaged in the primaries. Remember, Akin was McCaskill’s preferred opponent and NOT the Tea Party’s preferred candidate. In VA, Jamie Radtke is a superstar that lost her primary against retread loser George Allen. We’d have been far more motivated with a fireball like Radtke than Allen’s reanimated corpse on the ticket.
Rove makes my point for me.
Rove is a failure. He failed in his role with the Bush administration (personifying the Peter Principle), and he failed ‘us’ ever since. He is not likeable on television, and he seems to be more interested in himself than us.
This nonsense that he ‘got Bush elected and relected’ — Bush, son of a president, ran against Gore after ‘Clinton fatigue,’ and then as an incumbent with with a pathetic fraud as an opponent.
Enough with the ‘Hillary Clintons’ of the GOP. Enough!
For his betrayal of TEA Party/Reagan Conservatives, he truly has earned the moniker of “TOKYO ROVE”.
There are 20 D seats up. That Hill article lists only 9 as Toss Up or Lean D? Really?
Much will depend on whether or not we can get a nominee that can win statewide. Also, which D’s are retiring – too early to tell. For instance, NM is a lean D state with a D incumbent Senator. BUT, the current Governor is an R superstar. Would she run for Senate?
Point is: don’t rule out ANY of the 20 states, with exceptions only for deep, deep blue states where we have no hope. Like, say, RI, DE and probably NJ. Remember DE a couple years ago? It was an expected R pick up if Mike Castle won the nomination. Even in deep, deep blue MA we have Scott Brown available to run and if John Kerry gets an appointment (he’s likely the next Sec State) it will be an open seat.
Don’t forget, even in deep blue states like IL (which has a seat up in 2014) we currently have an R Senator. R’s can win statewide for Senate / Governor in a LOT of states that we have no hope for in a presidential election.
Look at the map again:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_elections,_2014
The obvious targets are the states that voted McCain and/or Romney: AL, MT, SD, AR, LA, NC, WV (these are 7 of the 9 on The Hill’s hitlist, MN, NH are the other 2). We really should be able to take 5 of these 7. WV is the hardest target, but Rockefeller’s retirement means open seat. MT is next hardest. The other 5 we should be embarassed not to win.
Next are seats up in presidential “swing” states that Obama won: CO, IA, VA, MI, NH
CO is a swing state. Mark Udall is the incumbent. I’m a news junkie and I can’t recall ever hearing the name. We were competitive in ’08 for CO Senate, but came up short, with Obama at the top of the ticket. Better chances in a midterm.
IA has an R Senator already, the D seat up is Tom Harkin’s. Strong incumbent, but what will the economy look like in 2 years? Who can the R’s run? Just how unpopular will Obamacare be in 2 years?
VA limits its Governors to a single term. Its up in 2013. So, Bob McDonnell (popular enough to have been considered a VP possible for Romney) will be available to run for the Senate in 2014. If not, he’s Lt Gov or Attorney General (Cucinelli, famous and popular for leading the fight against Obamacare) could run. VA Senate will be in play.
MI Stabenow was out of reach, but its Carl Levin’s seat that’s up in ’14. My theory is: any state that can elect an R Governor can elect an R Senator…
NH is on the Hill’s list already. Vulnerable incumbent. All depends on the R nominee.
States that Lean D in presidential races: OR, MN, NM
OR is a D state, but isn’t necessarily hopeless for us. Their incumbent is Jeff Merkley. Yeah, never heard of him either.
MN Al Freaking Frankin. Seriously. On The Hill’s list as Lean D. But really, people are still pissed about the corruption with the recount. People are also embarassed to have such an imbecile as their Senator. Big Target.
NM Tom Udall’s seat. Tough get. But, again, Susana Martinez…
Seats up in deep blue states (yeah, we have some chances here too): IL, DE, NJ, RI, MA
IL out of reach for R’s? Tell that to Senator Mark Kirk (R). Dick Durbin is up for re-election. Ever hear of the Durbin Amendment? Dick Durbin is the reason we ALL pay higher fees on our credit/debit cards. Our candidate should run on that. Pretty much everyone hates this fee increase, and Durbin’s Amendment to the Dodd/Frank bill is responsible.
MA Two words: Scott Brown. Ok, a few more: Secretary of State John Kerry. This seat could be in play.
The only states I haven’t any hope for (at the moment) are DE (Chris Coons), RI (Jack Reed), NJ (Frank Lautenberg). Even then, Coons was expected to lose to Mike Castle until Castle lost his primary (this is Joe Biden’s former seat, which is why its up again so soon). NJ falls into the R Governor rule: if they could elect a Chris Christie, could they toss a weak incumbent?
RI is probably the only truly lost cause of the 20 seats on the list. Unless the Professor knows something I don’t…
Bottom Line: QUALITY NOMINEES. <—- Read that again.
Don't nominate retreads like Tommy Thompson. Don't nominate squishy moderate RINO's. Avoid weak nominees that the Demo-Media can destroy (Akin, Christine O'Donnell). Nominate solid conservatives with a track record (Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Pat Toomey, Mike Lee) and no skeletons in their closets.
We can win just about anywhere with a solid conservative nominee. I wouldn't write off ANY of the seats up in 2014 this early. Midterm elections can be disastrous for the party in power. Especially if the economy is in the tank, as it likely will be, and especially as a result of unpopular legislation (people really haven't experienced Obamacare or Dodd/Frank yet).
With all due respect, I believe your optimism is misplaced. We saw November 6 that the Democrats’ Margin of Fraud is too large to be overcome. The data is there, but there is not room here to lay it out. And in two more years, with the continuing help of a captive media; the next election will be even more locked down for the Left.
The Republicans neither can, nor will, do anything about it. I reference case no. 09-4615 from the Court of Appeals for the US Third Circuit, Democratic National Committee; et.al -v- Republican National Committee; et.al..
And that presupposes that the coming economic collapse [would you or anyone you know willingly invest or hire anyone with what is currently charitably being referred to as “regime uncertainty”?] does not have untoward impacts on the nature of our political system.
When the elections come around, yes take part. As Robert Heinlein’s character Lazarus Long said; “Certainly the game is rigged. Don’t let that stop you; if you don’t bet, you can’t win.”. At least as long as that is possible without losing honor. But for now, getting ready for hard times may be of higher priority.
Subotai Bahadur
“A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits.” – one of my all time favorite quotes.
Guess who said it?
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No, really, try and guess!
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Its a Nixon quote.
He said it when he was defeated, before he quit, after which he was finished.
But, still, he had a point.
Obamacare is not a done deal. Ten years from now if its up and running I’ll agree that the US is done. We’ll be just another socialist country. We’re not there yet. Destroy Obamacare and America can yet be free and prosperous. I plan on winning. If we don’t win, I’ll go down fighting.
Hard times will strike a large proportion of the population – excepting our elite rulers, naturally.
When times get really hard, can the media, aka democrat operatives with a by line, continue to control the narrative by blaming Bush, the Republicans or the weather?
I guess it depends on how much largesse BO can dispense by continuing to confiscate earnings from the 50% who are the country’s producers. When he can no longer throttle money out of the producers, borrow money from China or print more monopoly money, the country will have collapsed.
For those who say we need to choose a RINO to run in the general election, I have two words for you: Ted. Cruz.
This man is amazing!
Cruz was not running against a sitting Republican Senator. It was an open primary. Big difference.
I’d have supported Cruz over Kay Hutchinson too. I’d have supported him over Cornyn if he had waited ’till ’14 to run.
One last point: 2014 is crucial for us in the Senate because we’re vulnerable in 2016. The D’s have only 10 seats up in ’16, and about 8 of them will be safe for them. We have 24 to defend, a few in enemy territory and a few more in swingstates.
Look at this map. At best we’ll break even in ’16:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_elections,_2016
You are quite right. 2014 should be a good year for us, provided we dont nominate idiots like Akin, or tired has beens like Thomson, but we will give most of it back in 2016. I dont think we will be able to get a solid senate majority until 2018.
It’s all well and good to go after pink and purple Republicans in the red and crimson states.
Let’s just remember: Mordock, Akins, Angle, McDonnell, etc.
It does no good to primary out a Pub you dislike only to get a Pub candidate who can’t win in the fall.
After all, we could have gotten rid of Clare McCaskill, which would GREATLY have salved my wounds over Obama winning. But we nominated a moron (sorry, but he is).
So let’s look before we leap, eh? Much as you’d like Corwyn or Graham out of there, you don’t want to put forward a losing candidate and hand a red seat to a blue Dem.
Target the toss-up Dems. Put the purple Pubs on notice, but don’t primary them unless you’ve got a candidate who won’t be a turkey in the fall.
Don’t worry, we’ll nominate some turkeys that we originally think will be good. All Democrats have to do is get someone to ask a tricky question about abortion and boom! 20% of these people will look like idiots.
Right. The correct answer is, “I am focused on jobs, the debt, the deficit and tax reform. I’ll leave abortion to each state to figure out.” That is a winning answer. Do not stray from the message or get trapped in a losing argument.
And have responsible moderators for the debates, not liberal/progressives.
The kook faction and the kleptocrat faction are vying for control of the GOP. Everybody else lacks critical mass.
Your suggestion about the abortion issue coincides with my opinion, but afaik it is not acceptable to the kooks.
After the eruption of post-election lunacy on this board, I decided to stop commenting regularly. The loss of a winnable election was bad enough; the post-election craziness is the last straw.
Maybe America hasn’t suffered enough. My real worry is that the country may be too far gone to respond constructively to experience.
Never before has a nation been presented with the position and opportunities America had at the dawn of the millenium. Never before has so much been squandered so quickly. Heaven help us if history is just.
Rant over. Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming: Every sperm is sacred, every sperm is great! No new taxes!
The RNC should hire Newt to run some training sessions for R candidates on how to deal with the press.
I’m with Prof. Focus on knocking Dems and keeping the seats we have. And FIGHT! Have a clear, concise, engaging and consistent message.
I know I’m stuck with Thad Cochran, but he’s been leaning towards appeasement in recent years.
First task: find a message that resonates with voters. Second task: find a messenger* that can stay on message.
*Assumption being that they are above reproach and aren’t likely to spout anything stupid along the way.
There are some real dinosaurs on the Democrat list both in terms of age and length of service. Indeed, the four oldest Democrats whose terms expire at the end of 2014 will have served for a combined 126 years or 21 full terms! The are Lautenberg(90 in 2014), Levin (80), Rockefeller(77) and Harkin (75). Three have have served five full terms and Levin six.
By contrast, only three incumbent Republicans will be over 75 in 2014 and the four oldest have only 14-1/3 terms. Cochran(75 in 2014)has almost double the seniority of the other three oldest Republicans with six terms. Inhofe (80) will have 3-1/3 terms and Roberts(78)three terms while Alexander(74) is currently in his second term.
It will be interesting to see how many of them decide to retire.
Reading all the comments today still brings us the most important starting point in the ‘GOP recovery:’ fire the people who brought us to this point.
Thus, we need a new GOP chairman. And we need a new House Speaker.
And save at least one old sock to stick in Karl Rove’s mouth every time he opens it.
Don’t confuse the role a good administrator with the role of a leader. While Reince Prebius might have been a stellar administrator, he’s badly cast as the face and voice of the GOP.
Similarly, Boehner might be a good office administrator, he too is awful as the face and voice of the GOP. While the House’s file cabinets might now be orderly, the GOP is in chaos under Boehner’s tenure.
If the House was a law firm, Boehner would be well cast in the wills and trusts division — not the litigation section.
Whom would you recommend to replace Boehner?
Paul Ryan.
May I suggest to the many that share my views, as expressed in the post-election comment which follows, that they begin by rallying their Tea Party friends to the Liberatrian cause? Here’s what I wrote:
Goodbye GOP
The patron saint of Chicago politics said it: “Nice guys finish last” – Leo Durocher
So you offered us McCain and Mittens. And they were crushed by the passion, and the venom, of the machine. As for living on as what the Brits call “The Loyal Opposition”, fuggedaboutdit.
Then who will assume that role? May I suggest a marriage of the passion of the Tea Party to the principles and the discipline of the Libertarians? But first the former must rid itself of the hypocrites and fools that contributed to the demise of the Republicans.
How can you ask government to regulate who shall marry, or whether a pregnancy shall be carried to term, and not expect to get the nanny state of the elitist Bloombergs of the world? Abdicate if you will, the admonishing of your daughters to keep their legs together, and you will find your sons are told to put down that Big Mac. Ask government to intrude into bedrooms, but do not deny that it will tell you where and with whom your children will be schooled.
The outlier, to use a now popular phrase, was Reagan. But did any Republican since he show the cajones to tell Gorbachev to “tear down this wall”? The Libertarians have a fighter in Ron Paul, but his time has past. Who within the Tea Party has shown the consistency to resist the darker sides of what passes for humanity, the Obama statists, heirs to their fellow Socialists, Marx, Stalin, and Hitler?
So to you who bemoan yesterday’s results, I say gather your resolve for tomorrow’s opportunities. Offer not candidates who, like Perot, say “I ran a business” nor compromised combatants like Gingrich who pushed back at the media or Christie that pushed back at the avarice of the educational establishment. Find instead a Reagan for our time, one who combines courage with principle. Then this nation will see an opposition worthy of its trust.
Tom Beebe
November 7, 2012
Don’t count on CO flipping from D to R.
CO has a problem fielding good candidates and then standing behind them in a manner that attracts enough CO voters.
Udall is far left, but he tends to the fake middle.
Udall and Bennett are already running ads.
Remember, we face the Dems and the pro-democrat media.
It’s an uphill battle and we cannot afford to waste any more time on poor candidates. GOP – stop with the infighting too. Jane Norton and Ken Buck, to the democrats delight, killed each other in the primary.
Just off the top of my head, I’d like to primary one or two RINO’s each and every election cycle. This should be enough to keep the rest honest. If we beat a sitting RINO every cycle the rest will do their best to keep us happy. Leave Collins alone. Look to Chambliss and Graham.
Candidate recruitment is probably the best place to focus right now. Get the right people running and build an early buzz. We can avoid primary fights this way and still make sure good conservatives are nominated.
And people should be working to take over their local party apparatus. Don’t count on the current Republican party leaders to do the right thing. Become Republican party leader.
Driving to work this morning I heard the talk guys on WNOX noting with some surprise that Lamar Alexander has already kicked off his re-election campaign, and has lined up most of the significant Tennessee Republican party politicos on his behalf.
This is not due to any significant threat from the left. People in Tennessee are beginning to realize that he’s spent too much time in DC, and too much effort feathering his own nest to be of much value in the coming struggle for liberty.
I dearly hope a competent primary challenger steps forward, he or she would surely have my vote over the flannel clad RINO.
Before you decide on a Todd Aiken or a Richard Mourdock please, please, please interview them and have them take a course on taking and answering questions from the media.
Anyone who is selected to challenge any incumbent have to realize that the media is, as Insty has said, Democrat operatives with bylines.
The GOP needs to get real. Enough with the wish and hope. We need to fight. Enough with the consultants who rake in money – but don’t have their ear to the ground.
Who is going to face Franken?
[…] Legal Insurrection’s Professor William Jacobson has handicapped the 2014 midterm elections. […]
Websearch on “Secretary of State Project.” Wherever the left-liberal wing of the Jackass Party successfully installed their politicians in state positions responsible for counting and certifying votes, there have been irregularities. The best example is MN, where all those felons and other ineligible voters elected Senator Franken. Along with “Operation Counterweight,” perhaps conservative Republicans should gin up an “Operation SecState” of their own. Also, the Republicans should close their primaries to prevent Democrats crossing over and selecting an Akin again.
Please, can we just agree – when selecting our candidates to not choose people who are confused, or perhaps don’t know how to articulate that they are against rape?
That can state, and hold, the position that they are Pro-Life, but campaign on the issues governing the country like taxes, Obamacare, spending, and not shoot themselves in the foot(read head) with social issues?
This sort of ship cost us the Senate this year, and I hate to break the idealism of a lot of you but unless you have POWER you can not advance your AGENDA. So you stood on the social issues and look where that got us, now we can’t actually do anything to advance those causes.