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.
It makes little sense that in the conservtive party, the two guys that have a claim to that description are not 1 & 2. We should be fighting over Fred vs. Hunter.
We’re not wondering. We know why Duncan Hunter is staying in the race.
www.gohunter08.com
I kinow I am off topic. But anyway...I watched the Sumday morning shows today.
Someone mentioned that the 527s were helping Mitt Romney(a billionaire). He can put as much as he wants of his own money into his campaign. Now, we have another billionaire, Bloomberg, thinking about buying the presidency.
So what is the pot of gold of the presidency? Surely, the pot is much more than the salary, pension, and healthcare.
There is no doubt in my mind that Obama is funded by another billionaire, George Soros. Goggle obama and gorge soros.
Then we have Duncan Hunter who can’t buy a place in the debate. It sucks.
It kind of questions the saying “in America anyone can be president” Do we need add, if, you have money backers? Hopefully DH can show you still can’t buy the presidency.
“She’s is at war. We all are, for the survival of this republic.”
BINGO!
I see American Family Association (AFA) doesn’t consider Hunter relevant, either. I’m torqued at them for this one!
http://www.afa.net/pdfs/08vg.pdf
Since I am on my soap, I’ll add to it.
I think any president out of office should have to give half the money he collects from speech to the U.S. treasury. It is a fact that the office made his speeches valuable.
There is no doubt in my mind that George H. Bush is a billionaire. I would like to see his income prior to the presidency and after. The same goes for Clinton who is a multimillionaire after his 8 years.
They are not elected king or queen.
OMGosh! I was going to say basically the same thing, about the same section of the article! You took the thoughts right out of my brain! LOL!
I’ll add only:
1. Fred is soooo personable that he’d only SMILE at the Red Chinese, while Hunter would actually DO something about them.
2. There’s no fool like an old fool!
“America is asleep. No, not just asleep. In a coma.”
With the majority of American’s opposing illegal immigration and amnesty, it makes absolutely no sense that McCain is doing as well as he is. I’m not buying short memories either. The outrage over the McCain Kennedy Shamnesty Bill won’t be forgotten and no matter what McCain says, the bill wasn’t rejected simply because Americans wanted border security first (they did, but certainly NOT with amnesty to follow).
Something about McCain’s success just isn’t adding up. Is the bipartisan OBL controlling our media and polls? That would certainly explain the treatment of Hunter. I’ve become so cynical about this that I question whether or not the polling even happens as we assume it does....maybe they are a total farce...how would we ever know...does anyone check the validity and bias of the pollsters?
aggghhh I’m getting sick to death of politics.
I’m starting to feel like it is all a sham.
Hubby gets mad at me because I obsess over it so much.
“You can’t control it! Write letters, make phone calls, vote and hope for the best!”-he tries to reason with me.
I can’t help it though. Our future as Americans is riding on this election.
Plus there’s that magnetic pull, like the kind some people get when watching an epic disaster in slow motion. You just can’t help but look-it’s beyond belief. The ridiculous people and the ridiculous stories and the in-your-face manipulation of the media and the masses fall for it.
I’m probably going to turn into a pillar of salt before it’s over! LOL!
Just curious, since I no longer watch fox news anymore I have put on CNN. At least I know where I stand with them. Today they have been replaying speeches of the candidates and I’m not listening often. Have they played any Duncan Hunter speeches?
Thanks for the ping. B4DH.
And there you have it...the downfall of our country!
What an ignorant moron! If my kid was in his class I would demand my money back.
All I ever see is McLame & the beast.
I read somewhere today the "other" candidate is now sounding just like Hunter on the border saying, "I will build a fence!"
They crack me up. I don't know whether to laugh, cry or pull my hair out!
Could you post their links or e-mail addresses for the lazy among us? ;*)
This idiot right here doesn't realize that the U.S. economy is wholly dependent both upon what happens in GWOT and on the border with Mexico. Jeez!
So now they are all plagiarizing Duncan Hunter to be "that" Republican!
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