Posted on 03/04/2006 7:51:02 AM PST by BillyDee53
Sh... Sh... Keep this a secret and don't dare tell the mainstream media, but Lynn Swann, Michael Steele, Kenneth Blackwell and Keith Butler are four charismatic, conservative, Republican Senatorial and Gubenatorial candidates who happen to be black and are attempting to change the nation's politics. They could possibly lead a bevy of black voters out of the Democratic stronghold and render the Dems totally powerless in national elections. Just thinking of this prospect must give Democrats the shivers, since they know so many blacks are socially conservative and unhappy with what the Democrats have had to offer black Americans. It must make the liberals blood boil to realize that these guys had the nerve to leave the Democratic plantation without permission. I'm talking about the candidacies of Butler a former Detroit City Councilman who is in the running for the U.S. Senate seat from the state of Michigan. Current Ohio Secretary of State and former Mayor of Cincinatti, Blackwell is running for the Gubenatorial seat in Ohio. Steele is currently Mariyland's Lieutenant Governor and he's seeking the U.S. Senate seat from the state of the Terrapins. And finally former Pittsburgh Steelers star wide receiver and long time sports reporter for ABC television, Swann is trying to take Ed Rendell's job as the Governor of Pennsylvania.
Butler is challenging Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow who squeaked past former Secretary of Energy and former Michigan Senator Spencer Abraham. She is about as liberal as you can get and is lined up right behind Democratic Senate leader Harry Reid as was seen with her vote against superbly qualified Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. Butler has proven he can win votes in the heavily Democratic County of Wayne, which is where the city of Detroit is located. The candidate is the Pastor of a 21,000 member church in the Motor City and he unlike Senator Stabenow wants to simplify the tax code and get Michigan's taxes off the backs of families who live in the state. In addtion he wants to make Michigan a welcome home for companies which want to come into the state to do business, by lowering the forementioned overwhelming tax burden. As you would expect he is both pro-family and pro-life, is in favor of having a strong military and he would like to see tort reform in the judicial system to cut down on the stupendous lawsuits which clog the system and hurt businesses. The formidable candidate is willing to make sure the President has everything he needs at his disposal in the war against terrorism. Mr Butler sees himself as a Reagonite Republican and was inspired to get more involved politically by the presidency of former President Ronald Reagan.
The key in the race will be Butler's ability to first of all win a hotly contested primary in which his strongest competition will come from Oakland County Sheriff and former State Senate leader Mike Bouchard. The former Councilman's who should do well in Detroit since it's been run further into the ground by Democratic Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, must find a way to win votes in the middle of state and in the Upper Peninsula. He's got tremendous support from the Republican leadership in the state even though it seems the National Republican Party recruited Bouchard because they don't know if Butler's capable of doing well throughout the state. He's got former HUD Secretary Jack Kemp and former Oklahoma Congressman J.C. Watts as his National Fundraising Chairmen and they've been spearheading a strong fundraising effort. So he has been campaigning hard, feels good about his chances and thinks he'll do fine upstate.
Kenneth Blackwell will be trying to bring businesses and jobs back to Ohio. He wants to stop the out of control government spending which has shackled the state's economy. Secretary of State Blackwell wants to force the schools to spend at least 65% money of their funds in the classrooms, so the state can improve its poor educational test performances. Like Butler, Blackwell is pro life and a true conservative both socially and fiscallly. He'll be competing with the state's Attorney General Jim Petrow who is masquerading as a true conservative.
Blackwell will have to battle through the image of corruption which has been caused by current Republcian Governor Bob Taft's scandal and misdemeanor conviction. Thankfully the Secretary has kept himself clear of it all and now he will try to bring some true leadership to a state which has been suffering from a plodding economy which is bogged down by one of the heaviest tax burdens in the nation. One thing's for sure this guy is a conservative in word and deed. He has stood out amongst his party in the state by consistently fighting for a simplified tax code and legal restraint on the spending done by the legislature. A true conservative like Blackwell has got to be attractive to the Buckeyes who find themselves mired in a long running economic slump.
Michael Steele has the same mindset and hopes to cut the taxes in Maryland so that the state can attract businesses and not run them away. He wants to demand improvement in the school systems and see that the state performs among the best scholastically in the country. Steele is also a conservative who believes in being tough on crime and aggressively prosecuting the gangs which have been running drug and car theft rings throughout the state. One of his missions is to help to better fund Faith-Based communities so they can attack the numerous problems which are entrenched in the state's cities.
Steele is a shoe-in to be the Republican Senatorial candidate against either current U.S. Congressman Benjamin Cardin or fomer NAACP CEO and former U.S. Congressman Kweisi Mfume. The Democrats find themselves in a tough situation where the party machine has gotten behind Cardin to the distain of the large Democratic black vote which is split behind the two candidates. if Cardin wins the primary,Steele could benefit greatly from an embittered black voting block. The Lieutenant Governor has proven to be a bridge builder and he will take advantage of his strong standing in the various communities represented throughout the state. Despite having oreo cookies thrown at him and his credit files invaded by Democratic operatives, Steele has surged ahead in the polling and needs to continue to pursuade more and more Democrats to go across party lines and support him. At the moment it looks like he's going to be tough to beat.
Finally you have Lynn Swann another conservative Republican who like the others believes that ever increasing taxes and out of control spending restrict business growth and impede the economy. Swann wants Pennsylvania to attract technology based and other growing businesses to the state as a means to bring back fleeing jobs and buttress the state's economy. He is pro-life and eager to improve the struggling educational system in the state by enforcing tough standards on the schools. Plus he wants to offer the Educational Improvement Tax Credit to students who want to escape failing schools systems.
Governor Rendell will have to overcome the pay raise scandal which resulted from a scheme by the governor and the Pennsylvania legislature when they tried to sneak through a huge pay raise for themselves at 2am on July 7th of last year. He also wil not be helped by a fiscal crisis headed the state's way due to the huge pension increases given the state workers and public school employees. The pension increase is said to be in the $4 billion dollar plus range. The former football star will still have a tough battle against the former Philadelphia Mayor and current Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell. Rendell has a war chest of over 12 million dollars and is seasoned. Swann's biggest hurdle will be battling charges that he's raw and unschooled in the politcal game and that he has no business running the state as a novice. He will have to rely on his charisma and message of lower taxes and a resurgent economy. The former Super Bowl MVP benefitted from the Pittsburgh Steelers winning this year's Super Bowl and he has polled only 3 to 5 points behind Rendell. His television experience and charisma should benefit him during debates with the current governor.
All these candidates are formidable and I think the fact that they're all black, conservative and Republican says something about both the Republican and Democratic Parties and the fact that there are millions of blacks tired of seeing the lack of leadership in black America. These four men represent a growing trend of blacks who are tired of sitting on the back of the Democratic bus and have finally decided to remain seated when the Democrats request us to stand. It is much like a repeat of the Reconstruction Period following the Civil War. You've got Black Republicans ripping off the Democratic political chains and seeking run for office and represent all of the people of their respective states.
My ex is a Maryland die hard Democrat. When I asked her if she would vote for Steele, she said no way, Im not voting for someone who should be a democrat but is part of the Bush group. "Black people shouldnt be Republican, because Republicans dont care about poor or minorites.. We have our work cut out for us in the Peoples Republic of Maryland.
Licking my chops bump...
Congrats on your divorce. Hopefully there aren't any kids she can brainwash.
We were never married and our daughter covers her ears and leaves the room whenever politics is brought up. Her mother was brought up in West Virginia in a big Christian family, her father was a Minister, yet the entire family except for two members are staunch Democrats. In fact my ex was very active in the Kerry campaign. Once I borrowed her car to take my daughter to a play, and as I drove up I695, I saw a Jeep Cherokee with W04 stickers on it. I pulled up and gave him a thumbs up. He responded by giving me the finger. When I got to the play house, I saw all the Kerry stickers on her car. I drove a Kerry vehicle for about 4 hours that day..
Great article and happy to have some further info on these great candidates. Know JC Watts will do a fabulous job and I do believe Lynn Swann can pull it off. I'm originally from B'ham, AL and so proud of Condoleezza Rice I just can't stand it. These guys all sound like really good guys and I'm keeping my fingers crossed. They're brave to boot!
Glory, I've lived to see this day. It's amazing to see things change like this. I remember the election eve when Ronald Reagan was declared the winner in 1980. That was tremendous, but what really shocked me that night was that a Republican won the Texas governorship for the first time since Reconstruction Rule. Nobody thought that could ever happen. Being a Republican in Texas had been only for die-hard optimists before.:)
Now we see outstanding black Republicans running for high offices. May God bless and protect them and may their tribes increase.:)
...and may they not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character...
Conservative Black American Bump!
In the South where black population percentages are greatest, a liberal white democrat can beat a conservative black republican candidate more often than not.
I would guess it's not much different in northern urban clusters.
This sometimes a great but flawed identity based notion is something of a myth about black voting habits much like the old myth that more blacks would begin voting conservative as they got wealthier....not proven...at all.
Old habits and very strong church and peer pressure dies hard.
I am most interested in the best candidates not because of their color or sex, that is only slightly different than what the left does and even if we do it we attain absolutely no political capital regardless of whose butt we're kissing.
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