Posted on 01/13/2008 8:40:43 AM PST by pissant
EAST COUNTY – Even in East County, where they still love Rep. Duncan Hunter, voters are a bit mystified about why he's hanging onto his unlikely quest for the presidency.
With the conservative Republican coming in last place with less than 1 percent of the vote in Iowa and New Hampshire, the prospects of his moving into the White House appear nearly impossible.
Some wonder whether he's running to highlight national defense and border security – his steadfast issues as a congressman – or in hopes of getting a job in a Republican administration.
In an interview while campaigning in Michigan last week, Hunter said he has no plans to drop out of what has become a wide-open race for the Republican candidacy.
“It's easy to quit. It's hard to win,” Hunter said. “We're moving ahead full-throttle.”
Beth Taormini, who owns a bookstore in Hunter's hometown of Alpine, said she has supported Hunter for Congress, but isn't sure who she'll vote for in California's presidential primary Feb. 5. She hasn't heard much about Hunter in campaign coverage and doubts he can win.
“But I wonder whether that's important to him?” she said.
Hunter's supporters bemoan that the national media has largely ignored his campaign in favor of Republican front-runners Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee.
“If the rest of the country knew him as well as we did, he'd have a fighting chance,” said Matt Schumsky, a Republican party activist who lives in Alpine.
Elected in 1980, Hunter has since represented the 52nd Congressional District, which cuts a wide diagonal swath from Miramar Marine Corps Air Station to the county's northeastern corner. He has usually beena shoo-in for re-election, often getting two-thirds of the vote or more.
But he has struggled for attention the past year on the presidential campaign trail, and he's raised only $1.9 million, tens of millions of dollars less than the front-runners.
Gary Jacobson, a political science professor at the University of California San Diego, said Hunter hasn't attracted notice because he isn't nationally well-known.
“He starts out totally obscure to most of the world,” Jacobson said. “Hunter is not an especially charismatic character. He doesn't have the charm of a Huckabee. He doesn't play bass in a rock 'n' roll band.”
Hunter's biggest victories so far were in Wyoming, where he won one of 12 delegates in the state caucuses, and in Nevada, where he was endorsed by the state's Republican Assembly.
When Hunter's campaign issued a press release Monday morning saying he had a major announcement, several news organizations predicted he was dropping out of the race. Instead, Hunter used the press conference to complain about being excluded from the most recent presidential debates.
Hunter's family physician, Paul Ver Hoeve of El Cajon, said his relatives in New Jersey hadn't heard of Hunter.
“When I mentioned Hunter's name, they said, 'Who?' ” Ver Hoeve said.
Ver Hoeve said Hunter is running to spread his conservative message.
“He loves his country,” Ver Hoeve said. “He's kind of carrying on the Reagan ideal.”
Signs of support for Hunter's presidential campaign are rare in East County, although one of his neighbors near his home on Peutz Valley Road has a 6-foot-high “Hunter for President” sign in his front yard.
Among Hunter's most fervent supporters are two other neighbors, Lu Ann Slay, 54, and her husband, Ed Roczey, 67. They've spent the past eight months traveling to 23 states to hold up Hunter banners along highways and cheer at his campaign events.
Slay said she admires Hunter and wants to spread the word about him to others.
“I feel like I'm going to war, except I don't have a uniform,” she said. “I feel like I'm fighting for something with a purpose.”
At El Cajon's Parkway Plaza, 67-year-old retiree Burley Dodson said he is supporting Fred Thompson, another struggling Republican candidate, because he feels Thompson is more personable than Hunter.
Dodson said he has little interest in the issues that Hunter has focused on.
“The main thing that concerns me is the economy right here – the food that I buy, the gas that I buy,” he said.
Hunter decided not to seek re-election to his congressional seat as he focused on the presidential bid. His son, Duncan D. Hunter, is among the candidates running for the seat.
Hunter last week denied a persistent rumor that his son is serving only as a placeholder candidate so that he can re-enter the race for his seat. “It's not true,” Hunter said. “You've got my word on that.”
Former La Mesa councilman Barry Jantz, who follows local politics in a Republican blog, said Hunter might be seeking an administration post if a Republican is elected president.
“I can't think of anyone better qualified to be defense secretary or national security adviser,” Jantz said.
Duncan Hunter vs. Media - Ellen Ratner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toDPri7fWjI
Sunday, January 13, 2008
U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., will be the keynote speaker Jan. 25 at the Martin County Republican Executive Committee’s annual Lincoln Day dinner.
The topic is “Shaping Our National Security Strategy to Defeat Our Current Enemies and Defend Against Emerging Threats.”
Tickets are $75 per person at the Turtle Creek Country Club in Tequesta.
Checks should be made out to the Martin County Republican Executive Committee and mailed to P.O. Box 501, Stuart, Fla. 34995.
For sponsorships or tables, call (772) 286-0615.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/tcoast/epaper/2008/01/13/m3c_tcnotes_0113.html
This guy has fought the good fight for years in Congress. I’m not critical of him, but I am curious about how the mindset works.
Let’s turn the clock back to July. Just six months ago. Around him he sees well-funded campaigns grabbing all the top tier staff talent. He sees rumors of Thompson. He sees no money coming in.
Now move the calendar forward to October.
No change. Nothing is changing. Remember that it was November of 2003 that Kerry sought a multiple million dollar loan to fund his campaign and stay competitive. His win in Iowa derived from that mortgage on his house. Hunter sees no money coming in. He’s participated in some debates.
At that time, what is he thinking? What does a candidate think just 4-5 weeks from the first primary with no money for media buys. What is the strategy? Who is the zero funded candidate who has won in the last . . . oh, 40 years since money started to drive the process that can serve as role model?
I am just wondering what the mindset is in that situation.
A new requirement for the Presidency in the modern age!
That's why I am teaching my girls to play a mean lead guitar...Lead guitar players can smoke any 4 string thumper in the spotlight. When my kids get up and play Voodoo Chile they will gain the respect and admiration of the masses.
Sad isn’t it? The media sits around and spends days talking about how wrong the polls are but has no problem using them as a measuring stick to determine who is and isn’t allowed into their little debates.
Maybe, have faith?
Duncan Hunter vs. Wolf Blitzer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ja6Ra8y-44
Would work also, just trying to maintain FR politcal
correctness by lisitng Thompson first, LOL !
Hunter’s conservative bona fides are better than
Thompsons IMHO, however Thompson has received
better traction from his campaign efforts than Hunter.
I wrote a few e-mail notes to some conservatives I know that I THOUGHT may be interested in voting for Rep. Hunter. I got two notes back already, and both said they’d never even heard of him and are now considering voting for him in our state’s primary!
I’m sure others could do at least as well as I in composing a note, but here’s mine, if anyone wants to just copy and paste, or edit. I am not one to forward e-mail and hardly EVER try to push my opinions onto others I know, but time is wasting and we have to get Rep. Hunter’s name (and positions) out there! Let’s just shoot for getting him at the 5% level so he can get back in the debates!
(I didn’t write to liberals that I know (why bother?), but only to people who may be receptive to his platform. And of course I supplied links highlighting his positions, and the very helpful comparison that “Calpernia” provided between Rep. Hunter and Gov. Huckabee: http://www.barofintegrity.com/Hunter-vs-Huck.pdf ).
Here’s the letter:
“I don’t know whether you’re voting in our state’s primary election, but there’s a conservative candidate I really like that you may want to consider voting for: Rep. Duncan Hunter http://www.gohunter08.com/inner.asp?z=4. A Vietnam veteran, he’s been in the U.S. House of Representatives for over 26 years, and served on the House Armed Services Committee during that time. He is very well versed on foreign policy, and knows the problems and likely solutions for our trade deficit issues, especially with China. While many candidates talk about problems with our border with Mexico, he actually passed legislation and saw to it that a fence was built near his district, which is near San Diego. As a result, the number of illegals who come across to our country has been curtailed drastically.
Rep. Hunter is also very pro-life, and has earned ratings of 100% from National Right to Life. And he’s also very fiscally conservative, earning a 100% rating from Americans for Taxpayer Reform. His ranking with the ACLU is only 5%, which of course is good, because they seem to be on the wrong side of everything, wanting God out of our schools, government, etc.!
He and Mike Huckabee have some similar positions, but a comparison highlighting the differences between the two can be seen here: http://www.barofintegrity.com/Hunter-vs-Huck.pdf (this comparison was not generated by the Hunter campaign but by a group that is strongly supporting his candidacy).
Rep. Hunter is also being endorsed by “Godvoter.org”. I feared that they might be some type of liberal organization at first, but they do seem conservative in that they certainly value Rep. Hunter’s Christ-centered responses to their survey questions:
http://www.godvoter.org/Duncan-Hunter-personal.html
http://www.godvoter.org/Duncan-Hunter-beliefs.html
http://www.godvoter.org/Duncan-Hunter-platform.html “
End of letter
Yeah but most all yall agree that DH would be your first choice if you thought he could win. What will it take to bring FT and MH’s supporters over here?
I ask people to check out Duncan Hunter too. I also let them know that the media is keeping them from hearing about him, in debates.
He’s running for the same reason that all of the also rans are running. They hope to be picked for VP.
I swear I think we have had democrats sign up for our Republican party over the years just to destroy it.
While RINOs join Osama Obama join in slandering Aussies....
Duncan Hunter Defends Our Allies 02-12-2007
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHCaplqNvfM
The lady was right when she said he hasn’t gotten the attention, and the Press and the RNC is seeing to it that he doesn’t.
“f all the R’s are stealing his policy positions, why the media is ignoring the one who has stood on them 27 years!”
Because they, like their supporters, know they have no intention of carrying through.
Every single one of the candidates got their message spread by the media, and folks seeing them and hearing them there. When some candidates get little or none, ie: Thompson and Hunter, they don’t become via that same media, household words. It gives all those whose names are repeated day after day week after week, an unfair advantage. I can’t understand those here who do not see that.
Wake Up America ~ Duncan Hunter is the man!!
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