Posted on 07/18/2007 7:48:13 AM PDT by Clintonfatigued
RedState endorsed Jim Whitehead went down in flames in Georgia last night. His opponent, Dr. Paul Broun, will head to Washington. Whitehead was heavily backed by the establishment Republicans and Dr. Paul Broun, to put it mildly, is the Kossacks' worst nightmare - military pro-gun, fundamentalist evangelical, hard core states rights, and anti-budget. He said he'd carry a pocket Constitution with him and use the Bible to measure matters on which he'd vote.
Going into the runoff, Whitehead had such a strong lead, in historic Georgia terms, he had over an 88% chance of winning the runoff. The congressional district pitted heavily liberal and large Athens-Clarke County in the west (home of the University of Georgia) with Richmond and Columbia Counties in the east - the real population center of the district. Broun was from the Athens-Clarke area and Whitehead from the Richmond-Columbia area, an area he represented in the State Senate.
That Whitehead imploded is just another amazing spectacle in how Beltway Republicans have lost their ability to run campaigns. Here's what happened.
Read on . . .
(Excerpt) Read more at redstate.com ...
Folks,
I have been harping on this since November.
That election had NOTHING to do with ideology. The country is neither more conservative nor more liberal than it was. The vote that brought Dems in and the GOP out had nothing to do with abortion, taxes, immigration, health care, and It Had Almost Nothing To Do With Iraq.
It was simply and only corruption scandals. The GOP had a Perfect Storm of corruption scandals.
Evidence? Here:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/07/election.exitpolls/index.html
So forget claims from the left that they have a mandate to do anything whatsoever. Frankly, the same is true of the right. There is no evidence of a changed electorate. The people just didn’t want politicians stealing.
And btw, it is THIS matter that is the basis for the US attorney firing scandal. The pros among the Dems know this had nothing to do with Iraq. They know that the biggest threat they face is hand picked US attorneys showering them with indictments next year. The people will tolerate anything but corruption. Corruption will get people to cross party lines.
Good job Georgians.
{yet every single member of the black caucus in Congress is 100% pro-amnesty and pro-open borders}
That because the Civil Rights Hustlers dream of forging a “Rainbow Coalition” of Blacks, Latinos, Asians, Jews, and other minorities which would make sure Govt is caring for the people.
True, much is made of the "weakness" of the Repub. field of Pres candidates, but when you look at the freak show that is the Dem field our side doesn't look so bad.
I have my gripes about the Repub side, but there's potential to win in 08 if we mobilize the traditional constituencies. The pro-life vote isn't mentioned in the article either, and that's a huge plus for the Repub side. There's no way they will be swayed to vote Dem with the current field of candidates there.
People talk about "Bush fatigue" (I suffer from it myself), but maybe we ought better talk about "Establishment-fatigue." That means, "No more Bushes or Clintons!" If someone taps into this discontent, does the legwork needed to fire up the base, secures the border, promotes the pro-life agenda, and offers tax-relief/reform, we could win. Not in a landslide probably, but elections are a game of inches right now. We could grab enough votes to win.
True, much is made of the "weakness" of the Repub. field of Pres candidates, but when you look at the freak show that is the Dem field our side doesn't look so bad.
Well stated. ("freak show"...LOL)
People talk about "Bush fatigue" (I suffer from it myself), but maybe we ought better talk about "Establishment-fatigue." That means, "No more Bushes or Clintons!"
I'm sure poster Clintonfatigued will agree with that. :)
What is “the leadership” you are referring to?
Dr. Paul Broun, to put it mildly, is the Kossacks' worst nightmare - military pro-gun, fundamentalist evangelical, hard core states rights, and anti-budget. He said he'd carry a pocket Constitution with him and use the Bible to measure matters on which he'd vote.<\i>
I'm guessing Dr. Broun is not, repeat...not a Democrat.
As a military, pro-gun, devout Catholic, hard-core State Sovereignty, Anti-Federalist Democrat, I can assure you that a few of us do exist.
James R. McClure Jr.
Sir Knight of Columbus
Look what we accomplished in the immigration debate and in the Harriet Miers fiasco. We don't need someone on top who will automatically do everything we want. We need someone who will respond to what we want, regardless of what they actually think. That's why I'm not too disheartened with the Republican field of candidates. I can make my peace with a less-than perfect candidate if there's an active conservative presence in the electorate that can force the consevative agenda. A "just-good-enough" candidate will work if consevatives are active.
Obviously these are very general observations, things vary considerably at the local level.
Peace to you.
I used to be a Democrat myself. But as some old fool once said, I didn't leave the Democrat Party, they left me.
RNC and Congressional Leadership!
And Braun barely beat out the number 3 guy, a democrat, for the chance at the seat.
I guess this shows that the republicans in the election split the conservative vote?
Or does it show that the democrats decided to vote for Braun in the hopes he’d be easier to beat next year than Whitehead?
Because it seems otherwise that democrats would have voted for Whitehead as the less conservative of the two? Or did the democrats mostly stay home? We could tell that by looking at the actual vote counts, were there more votes in the original election than in the runoff? Did the total in the runoff add up to more or less than the votes of all the republicans who ran in the general?
In the initial race, there were three democrats, six republicans and one libertarian. Of the republicans, all were pretty good conservatives (though Whitehead was the anointed party guy who, I think, would have been free with spending based on his record in the state).
Five of the six republicans split the votes in the initial race - Broun received about 20 percent while the others were much lower, and Whitehead got roughly 40 percent.
The democrats who voted in the first election largely all went to one candidate.
I doubt many democrats showed up yesterday to vote. This was a republican vote yesterday.
Or does it show that the democrats decided to vote for Braun in the hopes he’d be easier to beat next year than Whitehead?
It would be next to impossible for a dem to win in this district right now. This is a heavily right-leaning district. Unless Whitehead or the party elite launch a strong bid for the seat for next year, this is probably Broun's seat for as long as he wants it now.
Did the total in the runoff add up to more or less than the votes of all the republicans who ran in the general?
It was a runoff election from a special election ... turnout was way, way less.
No, it seem Broun is a “Republican’s Republican” from the Republican wing-of the Republican Party, AKA a true RR Smaller-Government Conservative Conservative, in other words: this is good news (I believe..).
Now all it seems that Dr. Paul Broun needs to do is keep up the ‘good constituent work’, and stick to his principles!
The “problem” is Leadership, I think..
“I’m sure poster Clintonfatigued will agree with that. :)”
You’re right about that. I don’t want any Clintons or Bushs in the White House anymore, although I give W. credit for excellent judicial appointments. Hopefully, he’ll fill many more vacancies.
There is an anti-establishment sentiment rising, similar to that during the early 1990’s. Hopefully, there will be plenty establishment defeats for the next couple of election cycles.
Runoff results 50.4% for Broun to 49.6% for Whitehead.
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