Posted on 02/10/2010 9:04:45 PM PST by Maelstorm
"Tea party" Republicans aren't the only candidates poised to make inroads this year - moderate Republicans are surging from Illinois to California, and in several instances proving they can best tea-party-powered conservatives at the polls.
Take the Illinois Republican Senate primary: Patrick Hughes, a developer and political newcomer, seemed to have the wind at his back as a staunch fiscal conservative and favorite of the tea party movement. His chief rival, Rep. Mark Kirk, was routinely blasted as a RINO - Republican in Name Only - for his more moderate record, which includes votes for cap-and-trade emissions legislation and the bank bailouts.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
We should also expect conservative candidates to motivate the base and the tea parties. Not just sit there and expect things to fall in place. The candidates must be hungry and must be willing to run around everywhere to get elected. That is the big lesson I take from Scott Brown in Massachusetts.
I believe this will be a regional thing. There are some states in which it’s almost impossible to elect a true conservative. Illinois is one, and Massachusetts is another. There will be states in which conservatives can be elected, so the Tea Party folks will work hard for them.
Perry is the most egregious example
Not if we have the Republican Party and people like Palin working against us e.g. Arizona and Texas.
The Tea Party movement will have to (and I think does) have a regional and even state flavor, finding the most conservative candidates with good chances to win. And then financial support for promising candidates can come from activists all over the US.
I was there Saturday night with my wife and Freedom’s Worth It and Seek The Truth and Recondad and I think a few others from this austere forum.
I did not see moderates in much force personally...at all.
maybe they did
seemed like everyone...conventioneers and mere banquet attendees like my wife and i were super enthusiatic about Palin.
It’s not necessary that Conservatives/Tea Partiers agree with a candidate on EVERY issue — bt on core issues there is no compromise. If RINO’s win, then Republicans should expect to LOSE the general election. Period. There is no time to have to work around RINO’s. Conservative principles and ideals are necessary NOW. Anything less and not only does the nation go down, but they LIBS will have the ammunition to BLAME “conservatives” for it!
600 people attended? Paid Sarah Palin 100K...which she placed in her PAC to be distributed to --whom? Maelstorm, do you have any answers to any of this worrisome stuff?
Not as long as we have stupidity keeping the focus on races we shouldn’t have to worry about at all while out right liberals like Mark Kirk win primaries. McCain will win his race with or without Palin as will Perry. It is also unlikely McCain will run again after his next term. I’m not worried about taking my anger out on an old warrior who will soon no longer be a part of the picture anyway. Palin has also supported Rand Paul who will win and I’m sure she will support Marco Rubio and Pat Toomey if she hasn’t already. We who support conservatism had better learn priorities and strategy or we are going to get screwed once again. How would you like to win the Senate with more Republicans like Mark Kirk who makes McCain look like Jesse Helms?
The main argument is silly. Everyone has known for months that Kirk had IL locked.
I disagree entirely. Also Scott Brown didn’t run as an Olympia Snow type of Republican. He is center right. He doesn’t support gay marriage, he does support limits on abortion, he does defend the second amendment and has an ‘A’ rating from the NRA and he ran as a fiscal conservative. As long as we allow ourselves to believe that conservatives can’t win they most certainly will not. There are some types of conservatives that can’t win in some places. Hothead conservatives won’t win in the NE or in places like Illinois but the Demographics certainly do not preclude a conservative winning on the issues. Not that the social issues have ever been the reason that conservatives lose, they lose when they don’t have an issues oriented platform that is relevant to governing. Bob McDonnell who is a strong conservative didn’t just win the easy areas in VA he won in every part of the state and in areas where Obama blew McCain away.
The recall of the California governor was started and manned by thousands of ordinary citizens. Volunteers gathered the signatures. (I believe Congressman Darrell Issa contributed a substantial sum to help the signature effort, however.) Some conservative radio hosts ridiculed the effort and some backed the effort.
All the Democrat "newspapers" ridiculed and trashed the volunteers.
The California Republican Party pooh-poohed the movement. IOW the Republican Party backed the Democrat governor. Union goons harassed and even physically attacked volunteers.
Then a (not so) funny thing happened. Once it was clear that the effort was going to succeed and there would be a recall election the Republican Party elbowed the citizens aside and claimed the effort was theirs and Schwarzenegger was the man. The rest is history. Arguably we are worse off now than we were with the Democrat governor.
You might be right and Palin really has little influence...but I wouldn't count on it. If she does, she will help to prevent "common sense" conservatives from being elected. If she has no clout, she is irrelevant. Not a great position she's put herself in.
Your poor "old warrior" is one of the most dangerous men in Congress. If he has his way and there are 20 million new, poor, uneducated, government dependent, Democrat voters, the whole conservative movement will be for naught.
So, the movement is so weak that it couldn't support an Illinois conservative for a February primary, and then an Arizona conservative for a late August primary?
Your remark makes zeros sense, unless you're just supporting McCain in an indirect manner.
Kirk is running against Alexi Giannoulias whose only qualification for office is that he used to play basketball with Obama. We HAVE to beat this guy. Kirk may not be perfect but if he wins it will be a big slap in the face to 0.
I consider this the most important senate race in the entire country. Kirk has to win.
Exactly. Scott Brown may not have been as vocally conservative as some may like but could anyone have thought a man running who didn’t support gay marriage, who supported restrictions on abortion, who has an ‘A’ rating from the NRA and was running as a fiscal conservative would have a chance?
Even in Illinois it wasn’t that Patrick Hughes was a bad candidate because his support was growing but just not fast enough with the early primary but even with that the Tea Party Machine that elevated Scott Brown did not come to life.
Conservatives failed to coordinate across all levels as they did with Brown. Now we have a real Republican Liberal who may very well win Obama’s old seat and to what advantage? So the media and the old Republican establishment can trumpet it as the death of the Tea Party Movement or as you pointed out blame us.
Well, she's backing McCain and Perry...maybe they'll get some. I wonder what the real Tea Party people would think of that?
I don’t know any conservative that could in good conscience vote for the guy.
The only moderate republicans are Rinos!
True republicans are conservatives with true conservative values!
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