Posted on 06/28/2006 1:45:44 PM PDT by Dane
WE LOST THE REFERENDUM
It was a landslide.
They had that referendum on illegal immigration yesterday and the answer was clear.
People don’t care.
I’m not saying that as a criticism, or as accusation, but as an observation. If yesterday’s Republican Primary in Utah’s third congressional district was a test of the country’s sentiment on illegal immigration, it is unarguably clear that people aren’t that bothered by it.
At least they’re not in Utah.
Congressman Chris Cannon pounded the living snot out of challenger John Jacob. It wasn’t even close. John Jacob lost in every county, jurisdiction and precinct. At no point did he lead in any category and every new report of results was more bad news. As I sat last night at the computer with his staffers, watching the results post on the Internet, it was clear that by the time 10 percent of the precincts had posted that the race was lost.
So I’ve got egg on my face.
I attacked Chris Cannon ruthlessly. I was John Jacob’s loudest and most passionate defender. His loss is also my loss. His failure to represent the interests of the people is also my failure to read the interests of the people. What I thought was important was clearly unimportant to the voters. And in a republic, the voters are always right.
It turns out that Salt Lake City’s two daily newspapers, and Provo’s newspaper, the state’s other talk-show host, and most of the state’s politicians were all more in touch with the sentiments of the Republicans in the Third District than I was. It is clear that their general liberalism is a better reflection of voter sentiment than my rabid conservatism.
And I should have known that. Instead, I was blinded by my desire to evangelize the world to my view of freedom – a decidedly conservative and Constitution-based view. But Utah is not a politically conservative state. It is dominated by the Republican Party, but not by conservative Republicans. The governor is a moderate to liberal, one senator is a moderate and the other is arguably a liberal. The last two governors were moderate to liberal and the attorney general is moderate to liberal.
Those are not accusatory labels, they are merely demonstrations of the consistently expressed will of the people. When Utahns go to the polls, they often pick moral conservatives, but rarely pick political conservatives. More typically they go for social liberals.
And they rarely go for political challengers from the right.
So, logically, John Jacob’s campaign was doomed from the beginning. And I should have known that. I probably did know that, but chose to ignore it, caught up in the talking-head argument that this was the time and place the people would rise up against government neglect of the border and acceptance of illegal immigration.
That argument made sense. This was the chance. It was the chance for conservatives in the Republican Party to call to account the ruling liberal wing of the party. But that is not what the voters wanted.
And that can’t be ignored.
If this was a referendum on illegal immigration, it seems the people want Senate over House, Kennedy over Tancredo. It seems that Chris Cannon’s 10 years of being the open-borders guy in the House is something the Republicans in Utah’s Third District wanted to reward.
Again, that is not an accusation. It is not bitterness. It is an observation. The landslide re-election of an incumbent is not a call for change – in that incumbent’s conduct or in the direction of his party. It is a ratification and approval of what they both have stood for.
George Bush and Vicente Fox won last night. It was a fair fight, I made the issue as clear as I could, and people chose what I wasn’t selling. Which is their right and the great beauty of our republic.
We tried to make our stand, and we got steamrollered. We can take comfort in knowing that we did our best, and we can seethe in the bitterness of knowing that it didn’t do any good. It was duty done, but pointlessly.
And I apologize for that. For taking up so much of your time with this issue. For being so passionate about something for which there is not a public enthusiasm. For being clearly out of touch with what Republicans want. For misreading the potential of this election.
It is impossible to ignore the fact that Chris Cannon won this primary by a larger margin than he won the primary two years ago. Last time’s $50,000 campaign did better than this time’s $700,000 campaign. And even that second figure is uncertain. It is possible that John Jacob’s campaign ran out of money a month ago, that it was underfunded. It is possible that John Jacob was a poor candidate.
But it is also irrelevant.
In his concession remarks – he bypassed a prepared speech – John Jacob said that the results of the election showed that Chris Cannon has support in Washington.
Actually, that’s not right.
The results showed that Chris Cannon has support in the Third District.
His constituents have known him for a decade and they seem overwhelmingly to like him and what he does. The referendum failed. It’s business as usual – business with which the voters seem completely content.
If this primary was an opening battle in the war to bring the Republican Party back to its conservative roots, we got massacred. And that will be noticed and have consequences. We conservatives hoped to show momentum and strength and didn’t. And we may have hurt our cause substantially as a result. Opposition to illegal immigration has been hurt, and so has the attempt to chastise the party. We fell flat on our face, and to the winner go the spoils.
Politics is like baseball. When you lose, you congratulate the winner and walk off the field.
Chris Cannon won because he represented what people want. He won the election. He deserves congratulations.
Orrin Hatch is a fine conservative.
Man you really do talk like a cult member.
Then stop talking like a damned Moonie. I am sure Tancredo has a million or so supporters that he will milk for all they are worth as he sets up his 3rd party run in 08. Like PJB, Keyes, Phillips, Howard, Nader e.t.c. he can make a nice living on running losing campaigns for president.
Oh sure 3rd parties can be spoilers. If that is all you want then more power to you. It fits with the childish attitude ya'll show around here.
Unless you've got a third party candidate with a billion dollars, you're not going to have any influence.
Perot got Clinton elected. If that's success, in your view, then you've been dropped on your head once too often.
LOL. Look go light a candle to Tiny Tom.
You do realize that Bush is not running for anything don't you? Well maybe not you act like you are in a trance.
They're not gonna jump. They're just pissed.
Utahans showed that they're not going to throw a solid conservative overboard because he doesn't toe the Tancredo line.
Tommy boy wrecked himself by trying to take down a sitting House member. He's gone as far as he's going to in the GOP, so don't be surprised if Bay talks him into committing political suicide by running for President as a constamatooshinalist in 2008.
Oh for God's sake you are a two week wonder around here. Get lost. I should have looked at your sign up date sooner it would have saved me a lot of wasted time.
No mention by Lonsberry of the liberal Democrat from CD2, Matheson. By far he is the most liberal.
Lonsberry is off.
But Lonsberry is not alone. No action from the Tancredo and Bay Buchanan sending up and supporting a good conservative against Matheson.
No instead Tancredo, Bay and Lonsberry go after Cannon with the 100% ACU rating and his recent support of HR4437 and his recent criticism of the Senate Bill.
But maybe they aren't off. It must be me who is wrong who thinks that a liberal such as Matheson shouldn't get a pass while a decidedly more conservative gets the target on his back.
Naw I just don't feed trolls.
Cannon won. Wow. What a shocker. Not so much a victory as avoiding a stupedous loss.
Those of us trying to get illegals out of the country will still work at the grassroots, politicians be damned.
More and more cities are starting to charge them with trespassing and then with false id's, which can be a felony depending on the charge.
Employers are starting to take notice. More are whining that their indentured servants are being caught and returned to the old country.
Should be coming to quite a head by November.
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