Posted on 02/26/2007 5:36:43 AM PST by bushfamfan
They say it is rare for someone to announce a presidential candidacy in the state of South Carolina. Unless of course, the candidate comes from the Palmetto State.
Duncan Hunter doesn't. His home is 2,288 miles to the west, where palm trees make us think of the natural beauty of the desert, not swamps.
They also say it makes more sense, if you're a White House hopeful, to focus your early money and energy on the two states that hold the nation's first presidential contests for both political parties – Iowa and New Hampshire. The idea is to visit so many town meetings you lose track, to practically own stock in the local coffee joints, and to talk the ear off every last voter and political operative you can hunt down.
You do all of this especially if you're a third-tier candidate, like our Republican congressman from Alpine, who desperately needs to make an early splash if he hopes to win the sort of national attention, campaign money and political momentum that might carry him through states with later primaries.
Since announcing around Halloween that he was considering a run for the GOP presidential nomination, Hunter has been to South Carolina at least four times, certainly more often than he has visited New Hampshire or Iowa. Late last month, he made his campaign official while in Spartanburg, S.C. And it was in South Carolina, North Carolina and South Dakota where he aired his first TV ads – commercials highlighting his belief that China is stealing American jobs and threatening U.S. security by “cheating” at trade.
(Excerpt) Read more at signonsandiego.com ...
By her own admission, Ms Earle in SC seriously opposed Bush in 2000.
So he's picking up McCain fans too. Good.
Likewise, they will be 'anyone but Rudy' fans in 08. Except, there will be more of them in 08 than there were in 00.
ABB fans were a vocal, yet distinct minority here. Casting votes and $$ to awful candidates like Keyes and Bauer.
This time they are in luck. They have a real candidate, with wide appeal. Not just anyone can unite the ABB types and hardcore Bush supporters. Hunter can and will. Not to pretend that it is not still a huge uphill climb. It is.
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No kidding. Hunter is cute. Giuliani is...not.
Well, I don't know about the particulars, but Rudy dos look like a skull with bifocals.
The point being, is that when the general election came, many stayed home.
The difference between 00 and 08, is that economic populism wasn't a factor in 00 but since it was significant last Nov, it will be even more significant in 08.
Hunter plans on using economic populism(economic threats of immigration and foreign trade) in the primaries. The dems plan on using the same issue in the general.
Hunter's plan is clear, not muddled. Revoke MFN for China and rework the trade deals with them and address Mexico's cheating on trade. He has no intention of spreading socialism (Hillary REALLy stepped in it with her vow to "take the profits" from oil companies). ANd he is the PNLY major candidate to vow to fence the border. Plain, simple, and he puts it in the National Security column, not the anti-mexican column. He's that good.
It sure is. On foreign trade, he is adopting the same strategy as the the democrats.
No, he is not. He's not talking about "environmental standards" and workers rights. He's talking about China devaluaing the currency and slapping tariffs on our products. That is a far cry from the socialsits.
Democrat Shuler didn't say anything about environmental issue either. He still beat the republican.
LOL! Good one.
Don't know Schuler or his platform. All I know is its been a dem mantra for at least 2 decades.
I couldn't resist. ;o)
Everyone wants frame it around who might or might not win the republican primary.
The reality is the the GOP is so fractured that it doesn't hsve much of a chance of electing anyone in 08.
Yes, that is why it is crucial to reestablish Reaganism, not shun it.
First, it will drag the republican primary to the far right, making whoever wins it unappealing to the center in the general election.
Second, it will try to futher divide an already divided GOP, meaning whoever wins the primary will not have a unified party behind him in the general.
Hello Hillary.
Ah, now we are getting down to brass tacks. Rudy fans see Hunter as "far right". In comparison, he is. But he espouses nothing but pure Reaganism. And his most noted differences with President Bush, who he supports and admires, has to do with immigration (even though Bush happily signed Hunter's 700 mile fence bill in October) and MCCain Feingold (Bush signed it, eventhough he obviously was not pleased).
So here we have a candidate that is just right of GWB, and on par with Reagan, yet so many GOPers are willing to call him "far right" as if that was a bad thing. Yet they look at Rudy and see moderate. This is the reason that the GOP will implode, if it does. Arnie has for all intents and purposes destroyed the California GOP. John Major did the same for the Tories in Britain by veering left. It is not something I want to see happen to the GOP. If Reaganism is deemed now to be far right (which btw, the elites inthe GOP back then called Reagan that as well), then it is not a party worth supporting.
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