Posted on 01/24/2007 8:57:53 AM PST by Antoninus
California Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter will formally announce his candidacy for president Thursday — less than two weeks after he took the first official step by filing paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to establish a presidential campaign “exploratory” committee.
According to a statement released Tuesday, Hunter will make his announcement at the Marriott Renaissance Park hotel in the South Carolina city of Spartanburg — located in the state’s overwhelmingly Republican northwestern region. The breakfast event is titled “America: The Strength of Freedom,” which also is Hunter’s campaign slogan.
“I will speak about a new American sunrise of opportunity, faith and freedom for the citizens of our great nation,” said Hunter.
The choice of South Carolina as the venue symbolizes the strategy Hunter is using, as he seeks to extend beyond his very limited political base in the San Diego-area 52nd Congressional District and overcome a big deficit in national name identification.
The 58-year-old Hunter, a 14-term incumbent who chaired the Armed Services Committee prior to the Democrats’ House takeover and now is its ranking member, is campaigning both on his hawkish views on defense issues and his equally staunch conservatism on financial and social issues.
In order to gain any traction in the presidential race, he must quickly make an impression on voters in places such as strongly conservative-leaning South Carolina, which in recent years has emerged as a Republican Party stronghold.
South Carolina has several military bases, so Hunter may at least get a hearing from voters there because of his background on national security issues. He is one of the staunchest defenders of the Bush administration’s policies in the Iraq war.
Hunter, who has served on the Armed Services Committee since he was elected to Congress in 1980, has a personal background of military service as a member of the Army from 1969 to 1971. He received a Bronze Star for participating in 25 helicopter combat assaults during the war in Vietnam.
In his release, Hunter touted his experience as well as his political leanings, stating that he is “considered by many to be the most conservative Republican in the presidential race.”
Along with his defense posture, Hunter is a fervent opponent of illegal immigration, and reaffirmed his socially conservative platform Monday on the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.
Hunter, according to the Associated Press, told participants of the March for Life anti-abortion rally on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.: “If we have a judicial applicant, a judicial nominee who can look at a sonogram of an unborn child and not see the value of human life ... if I should become president of the United States, he will not receive a judicial appointment.”
Hunter, though, faces strong competition for the conservative vote from the only other Republican officeholder who is an official presidential candidate: Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, who received a 100 percent score from The American Conservative Union in 2005. The other official candidate, attorney John Cox of Illinois, is emphasizing his own socially conservative stances.
Among others who have set up presidential exploratory committees or are considering bids, there are social conservatives — such as Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo and former Virginia Gov. James S. Gilmore III — who would be directing appeals to that wing of the Republican electorate.
Hunter enters relatively unknown outside defense-related circles. Having never run for office on a larger stage than his congressional district, he will likely find fundraising a significant challenge.
That certainly will not be the case for prospective front-running candidates such as Arizona Sen. John McCain and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, nationally known figures who have formed exploratory committees and currently lead the GOP field in national polls.
Last week, though, Hunter took a swipe at McCain by releasing a straw poll taken in Arizona’s Maricopa County (Phoenix), in which Hunter finished first and the homestate senator ran fourth. Though Republicans in the state’s most populous county called the results surprising, McCain’s maverick tendencies have angered members of his party in the past.
It's never *too late* for anything, Tom. You're a Troll for McCain?
ROTFLMAO!!!!
Hunter is the only candidate to do something about the border issues.
tommycorn, some anger management might help you.
You are either a troll or
Using Displacement with your out of place anger.
McCain is also known for an interesting temper.
Songbirds of a feather...
Tommy isn't for McCain, as he supports amnesty
Bookmarking #42
Maybe I should run. I don't support Amnesty. :)
Who ya working for Tom?
Not shrill enough to be a hillaryite. Not smooth enough to be in obama's caravan. Must be one of Guiliani's.
By who do I support?...John McCain. Always have...
I missed it.
I'm not angry. I am a cheerful and ebullient cynic. If direct and unadorned speech looks like anger to you than that's your problem.
So we're all suppose to lay down and let it happen, as you say?
I for one WILL NOT !!!
No, worse than that. Check out post # 197
Both the RNC and the DNC are for Amnesty. That's why the GOP made Martinez head of the class. Who controls the hispanic vote wins the future. Control of the hispanic vote will be decided by Amnesty. That why both parties stump for it.
It is cynical ,manipulative,and sly...but that's what politicians do.
What are you gonna do? Nada...Zip...Talk a bit but the reality is the numbers are such that you don't count. Hispanics will be the fulcrum of US politics. If the GOP wins the hispanic vote they will win control. If the Dims take it they will win. Both parties see the numbers an both party recognize the key issue. Amnesty. Oppose it and you lose the hispanic vote. For it and you win.
You have been betrayed years ago by your leadership Democrat and Republican. They allowed illegla immigrationto flourish because it was good for business, kept a muzzle on Unions, and kept wage pressure low. And illegals kept on a coming...17 MILLION now and growing. And that's just the ILLEGALS.
Both the RNC and the DNC are for Amnesty. That's why the GOP made Martinez head of the class. Who controls the hispanic vote wins the future. Control of the hispanic vote will be decided by Amnesty. That why both parties stump for it.
You're making the mistake of assuming that the Hispanics will vote based on amnesty. If the illegals are gone, they won't be voting and some of the hispanics who went through the process legally are anti-illegal immigration.
Again, you can stick your head up your a$$ and do nothing, I will take a proactive approach.
I'm glad you're not in charge, looks like you'd just hand the country over to anyone who wants to take it. You sound just like our weak politicians, no backbone at all. If our Founding Fathers were like you, well, I guess they wouldn't have been our Founding Fathers. My vote is for Duncan Hunter, he's a real man, someone who deserves to run the greatest country in the world.
Thing is, that FR already has a President, Jim Robinson. Hunter is running for the Republican nomination for POTUS, and scoring on a FR poll garners no delegates.
The program of the Peace through Strength website is so common sensical and patriotic, wel, . . .there it is - the conservative Reaganesque program we've all been looking for. Tancredo and Paul need to drop out so Hunter can stand alone as the conservative alternative to the Rinos.
Naw, sure our FR polls are relevant, but the knock against Hunter is electability. And a FR poll is a poor barometer of electability. We have to look at real public opinion polls. Now, I posted one such poll, you are welcome to post any poll in any state. It is easier to find polls with 0% or asterisks than with 1%, and hard to find any with 2%. Also, you cannot find any movement in Hunter's direction.
Hunter has had one good straw poll, and a large FR ping list. Other than that I know of no evidence that Hunter's campaign has a pulse. If you know otherwise, please post it.
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