The RNC chose to spend their donors' money on the New Jersey Fatass instead.
Posted on 11/06/2013 5:50:04 AM PST by Timber Rattler
When the facts are considered in the slim victory that terribly flawed Democrat Terry McAuliffe had against Ken Cuccinelli, it’s hard to deny the conclusion that the Republican party decided it was better to abandon Virginia to the Democrat party than to allow the Tea Party and social conservatives to win.
Here they are:
The Republican National Committee spent three times as much in 2009 on the same race as they did this year. The Chamber of Commerce spent one million dollars in the last Governor’s race, and not one dime on Cuccinelli. While its often claimed that Tea Party candidates do poorly among independents, Cuccinelli actually won independents by 9 points, 47 percent to 38 percent. “McAuliffe outraised Cuccinelli by almost $15 million,” and in the last weeks of the campaign, this left Cuccinelli with nearly no media exposure. Even Politico wonders if Cuccinelli was beginning to turn the tide against the “War on Women” narrative, as he drove down McAuliffe’s lead among women from 24% in polling to 9%.
In the last month, Cuccinelli’s claim that the election was a referendum on Obamacare started closing the gap for him – the continuing debacle of Obama’s signature legislation was taking its toll on his opponent. But ultimately, he couldn’t close the gap without help.
Help that disappeared in the last weeks of the campaign, and could have pushed him over the top.
Finally, a libertarian third party candidate served as a spoiler, stealing a fair percentage of votes away from Cuccinelli, and diluting the conservative message.
To be sure, there were some missteps in the Cuccinelli camp, but the final results show that this could have been a win for Republicans, and the loss was due in no small part to the reticence of the national Republican party to support a social conservative.
If the Republican establishment had thought it important enough to carry Virginia into the “R” column instead of using the loss as a cudgel to beat the grassroots Tea Party insurgent movement, perhaps it would have devoted more resources towards winning this crucial election.
Instead, we’ll continue to hear how “extremist” conservatives can’t win elections, while they praise the Obama-hugging moderates like Chris Christie.
Interesting post by someone yesterday.. It is better to vote for a true conservative and lose then go with the RINO who may win the election but will let you down in the crunch.....
I’m weighing how much faith I should continue to have, if any, in the electoral process.
Excellent analysis. The GOP-e consistently opposes and/or kneecaps conservative Republican candidates and then expresses dismay when those candidates lose. Conservative candidates do not only have to contend with the Democrat in front of them, but with the GOP-e pinning their arms behind their back.
The GOP-E might be dancing this morning, but it's dancing on its own political grave.
The Republicans saved a bunch of money here. In 2016 they don’t have to spend anything in Virginia as they delivered it to the Clinton machine last night.
Good luck running those rinos in the primaries GOP.
While I understand the anger and agree somewhat with a new party, a 3rd party will continue to ensure Democratic victory. In the case of VA, where an Obama bundler footed the bill for the “Libertarian” candidate, then you would have the vote split 4 ways. Dems, Rep, Lib and Tea Party....Tell me how this will create a victory for the Tea party candidate?
"The GOP-E doesn't represent us in Washington, it represents Washington to us."
We should ask Ken to run for Senate. We now know the landscape down to the last patch of grass, and can win with national TEA support.
“Moderates” are lying manipulative bottom feeding scum. They’ll happily toss a race to the democrats just to say “We told you so”.
Nothing but Kapos who kiss the asses of their masters while keeping the problem inmates in line.
“Chamber of commerce” zero support. There you have it, the amalgamation of big business and the dems for all to see. Ya see, they love their subsidies. They love their o care as it will remove a huge burden from their expense ledgers.
If I were a Democrat trying to fracture the Conservative movement, I would write this article.
AND, the GOP is totally oblivious to the damage done by having such a huge portion of our state government handed to socialists, not to mention giving Hillary a Virginia base of operations in 2016. The GOP will NEVER see any support from me, ever.
Yep.
I think fundraising was Cuccinelli’s Achilles heel. He was a reluctant fundraiser. A right winger like him should have been fundraising in red states and making pledges of mutual support with like-minded conservatives. Instead, he let McAuliffe outraise him. Cory Booker was a lock for the US Senate, but he raised funds all over the country anyway. Complaining is not a strategy.
The GOP just showed the world that they regard the Conservative movement as the enemy.
the Cuccinelli campaign blanketed Virginia with ads. More money wasn’t going to help. The fix was in.
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