Posted on 09/16/2010 10:22:29 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Delaware Republicans have proved it: Sarah Palin is the best asset the GOP has right now.
There has been a lot of carping about Republicans' prospects for November since Palin-backed candidate Christine O'Donnell defeated longtime Delaware officeholder Mike Castle for the Republican Senate nomination Tuesday. But contrary to conventional wisdom, the 2008 vice presidential nominee has kept the party strong. How? She has kept the Tea Party faithful inside the GOP tent. Had she instead encouraged these disillusioned voters to mount third-party challenges across the 2010 general-election ballot, dozens of Democratic incumbents, not to mention challengers, would be smiling like Woodrow Wilson in 1912.
That year, a simmering feud between two wings of the Republican Party resulted in the "Bull Moose" independent presidential candidacy of former president Teddy Roosevelt. The Rough Rider's support four years earlier landed William Howard Taft the GOP nomination, but the two had a falling-out. Their disunity allowed Wilson, the governor of New Jersey, to claim the White House with the lowest winning percentage of the popular vote since the two-party era began in 1864. Wilson was only the second Democrat elected president since the Civil War; a GOP united by a temporary, even testy, marriage of convenience would have triumphed easily. But egos proved too large. It did not matter that Wilson was, in TR's term, the "coiner of weasel words."
Establishment Republicans, including former Bush aide Karl Rove, have said this year that the strength of the Tea Party movement has sometimes forced the nomination of contenders with weak prospects for winning a general election. This is surely right; O'Donnell's upset on Tuesday is merely the latest example, but there were similar complaints about the Nevada Senate contest.(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
You and MEG33, cherry, dsc and Hinckley Buzzard and others are all correct.
Sarah was like no other VP candidate in history.
She became the star of campaign instantly and it’s a real shame the top of the ticket didn’t listen to her or make make use of her God given talents.
Fortunately, she’s her own Sarah now, and like Michele Bachmann said, “the world is her oyster.”
God bless and protect Sarah Palin and her precious family.
Not to mention Schmidt and other scabs inside McCain's tent. That tradition continues doesn't it? But I've noticed a 'backing off' these past few weeks. Is that my imagination?
Yes, Miller was a great upgrade.
That’s why he lost to Christine O’Donnell. It had little to do with Sarah Palin.”
You might want to look at the tracking polls and see what happened to her after Palin threw her support. I don’t think it was a coincidence.
“We support the RNC through our donations (many small business did before McCain destroyed that)”
Not MY small business ... not anymore ... checks go direct to campaigns. Screw the RNC.
The MSM and the Washington elite heads would explode if Palin were to become President. The truth is Reagan got much the same reaction from both. Palin is younger and more energetic while retaining the ability to connect to ordinary people.
I think they would have a collective aneurysm...
Someone, somewhere has an issue with that?
Snivelling Libs, yes.
Big surprise. I love surprises.
THAT’S WHY HE LOST TO CHRISTINE O’DONNELL.
IT HAD LITTLE TO DO WITH SARAH PALIN.
Dave, if you check the history of the Palin House, Senate or gubernatorial endorsements and how they affected the primary and lifted her endorsee to victory she provided different things to different candidates:
1)Christine O’Donnell
Political legitimacy as a worthy candidate and not a flake
2)Kelly Ayotte
Allowed Kelly to eke out a narrow win over a strong conservative challenge
3)Carly Fiorina
Disabused the notion Fiorina was a RINO and stamped her as a conservative
4)Susana Martinez
Allowed Martinez to break open a very tight primary race and to romp to an easy victory giving her the momentum she now has in the general election
5)Joe Miller
Gave him name recognition and increased his profile
6)Nikki Haley
Caused her to dramatically catapault from 3rd or 4th place to first place by a wide margin
7)Rand Paul
Legitimized the Tea Party movement as a major player when she went up against the establishment and Rand Paul as a major player within the TPM and established her ties to the libertarian movement
8)Pam Bondi
Provided the margin of victory
9)Tom Emmer
Allowed him to win against a tough opponent
10)Michele Bachmann
The unity of the two most hated conservative women in America
2D posts a lot? Really?
And... Then?
Wow...not bad, and from a demonrat strategist?!?!?
I read the whole article. It was balanced and he made his case, even though he personally doesn’t like her. I take issue with a couple of his caveats (eg. policy weaknesses, etc.), but I think his overall point is probably valid.
However, I don’t think it was her alone. A number of voices (Rush, Hannity, Beck, DeMint) also cautioned against a 3rd party. Clearly, she was in the forefront.
A lot of the credit goes to the myriad of leaders of the Tea Party, who were A) smart enough to not create a single leader, and B) not push to make the Tea Party a political party.
Interesting take but Arlen Spector lost a Dim primary not a GOP primary.
By the way even PPP in their blog admitted that Ayotte would not have narrowly won without the Palin endorsement. Lamontagne was coming on big time.
As for O’Donnell, don’t forget the NRA and Demint both endorsed her after the Palin endorsement.
What the Palin endorsement imho did for O’Donnell was brought conservatives to the polls for her, and imho these were folks who were initially lukewarm or comme ci, comme ca to O’Donnell but once they got the word from Palin, would be willing to walk over broken glass to the polls to vote for O’Donnell. That is Palin Power.
I saw somewhere that the R. turnout for Tuesday’s primary in DE was up dramatically — that would probably be a good indication of Palin power, people turning out who in past years would not have been motivated
A lot more than I should, just ask my wife.
What are you talking about?
How could the first state have only one Senator?
All States are represented by 2 Senators, so they will have equal representation.
Who are these guys?:
Carper, Thomas R. - (D - DE) Class I
513 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2441
Web Form: carper.senate.gov/contact/
horizontal line
Kaufman, Edward E. - (D - DE) Class II
383 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5042
Web Form: kaufman.senate.gov/services/contact/
Got the listing off the Senate site:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?State=DE
That is why she scares Obama and the Dems in 2012.
In case you have forgotten or don’t know one of the primary reasons Obama won in 2008 was that millions of white older conservatives stayed home and did not vote because of their resentment of McCain being a RINO and his career in the Senate. In addition Obama got 1/3 more conservative vote as a percentage than Kerry did in 2004, the increase made up mostly of conservative independents who had defected from the GOP because of Bush, security moms and Roman Catholics.
Palin has the ability to get these people to the polls in 2012 and it is quite conceivable that with Obama now mired in the mid 30’s in job approval among white voters that Palin as the GOP nominee could get 60%-62% of the white vote in 2012 and blow the Messiah out of the water.
That is the bottom line why they must destroy Palin.
She’s still delivering oxygen. With all the Tea victiories of late, I just realized I haven’t listened to or seen Zero’s socialist ramblings for some time. No wonder I feel better!
By the way you have a beautiful home page!
It wasn’t just Palin though, Levin, Hannity and Rush spent many hours of their shows supporting her/attacking Castle toward the end, DeMint endorsed her late, Michelle Bachmann endorsed O’Donnell on the day before the primary
All the support from all these insurgent sources reached a critical mass for her, that any one who liked her positions but might have been concerned about the questions over her history felt they could safely support her without worrying about some embarrass revelation that might come out later.
I think Palin certainly helped her, but if Palin was the only one that endorsed her people might not have been convinced.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.