NOT a friendly touch.
Posted on 06/17/2010 10:45:42 AM PDT by Qbert
Seizing on an opening that they hope could put into play what had been a safe seat for Democrats, House GOP campaign officials are in talks with North Carolina Republican Renee Ellmers, two days after video footage of seven-term Rep. Bobby Etheridge (D) roughly handling a questioner became public.
The National Republican Congressional Committee is expected to introduce Ellmers into its “Young Guns” program as a ‘Contender’ as early as next week and the committee is already providing Ellmers with strategic advice, according to a GOP source familiar with the talks.
Ellmers campaign manager Al Lytton said the campaign had been in talks with National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions and North Carolina GOP Reps. Virginia Foxx and Walter Jones in the days since the footage became public.
The Ellmers campaign had previously been regarded as an obscure effort. As of April, her campaign had just $5,400 in the bank – a miniscule sum compared to the $1.1 million Etheridge had in the bank.
But in seizing on the video, Ellmers, a nurse and the president of the Dunn Area Chamber of Commerce, has sought to raise her profile in GOP circles. She has conducted interviews with conservative platforms like HotAir and RedState. And as the Etheridge video circulated through the cable TV airwaves Monday, Ellmers pounced, releasing a web video in which she tells viewers that Etheridge “needs to explain why he did what he did.”
Lytton said the campaign has raised $24,000 in the first twenty-four hours since the footage became public - a figure that represents about a third of what the campaign had taken in for the entire cycle.
The video, first shown at the conservative website Big Government, shows the Congressman grabbing a self-identified student questioner whose face is blurred out, and demanding to know, “who are you?”
“It’s given us a lot of momentum and raised the race to a national level,” said Lytton.
How competitive Ellmers can make the race remains an open question.The North Carolina Democrat has never won less than 57 percent of the vote in his re-election bids, and Barack Obama won 53 percent of the vote in the district.
That’s what happens when congresscritters think they are elite and entitled and the public gets to see it.
I donated $50 just because... Hope she gets a lot of support from her state GOP and from the NRCC.
The Miller piece from O’Reilly’s show last night nails Etheridge as an obvious arrogant abuser of power. GOP needs to use this clip in campaign ads against the RAT goon.
NOT a friendly touch.
This guy showed his true colors and Americans don't like public servants with a sense of entitlement. Etheridge is the type of people we fought for freedom.
I didn’t see it as an unfriendly question. Many Dems support Bams agenda.
I learned long ago not to harass drunks on the street, suit and tie or not.
The arrogant thug, Etheridge, needs to go. The GOP has the ammunition, provided by the arrogant POS himself, to get him voted out. I pray that the GOP has the spine and guts to do the dirty work of exposing this goon.
Me, too. And I will support her on twitter and elsewhere as possible.
What Etheridge did was despicable. It also is a glimpse into how congresscritters operated all those years before YouTube. Disgusting.
I hope the students sue his pants off for his tortious conduct. They could settle with him for quite a bit of money, which would be good.
I sent her a donation as well.
June 17, 2010 3:11 PM
By Jim Geraghty
http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/230012/bob-etheridge-now-trailing
Much more on this in a bit: Among voters in North Carolina’s 2nd congressional district, Republican Renee Ellmers 39 percent, Democrat incumbent Bob Etheridge 38 percent, Libertarian Tom Rose 15 percent, and 11 percent undecided.
UPDATE: This is a district where Obama’s approval is at 38 percent and disapproval is at 55 percent. Civitas finds that 84 percent of voters in the district heard about the shoving incident; 45 percent of these said it made them less likely to support Etheridge, 14 percent said more likely, and 39 percent said no difference.
Who ARE you?
WHO ARE YOU??
Too funny...nice touch with the crumpled suit coat. Not a love hug, there!
That was then..........this is now..........
:}
“That was then..........this is now..........”
I think he voted for Obamacare and a lot of the other Dem bills too, if I’m not mistaken. Hope the NRCC goes ballistic on this loser.
:)
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