GOP confronts sore-loser syndrome

Politico ^ | Sept. 21, 2010 | Alexander Burns

[Second Amendment First]

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s decision to run for reelection as a write-in candidate has been greeted by conservative activists as the latest outrage in an ongoing struggle between establishment Republicans and the GOP’s activist base.

Murkowski’s move ends the 2010 primary season about where it started: With a Republican legislator, well regarded within the Beltway, effectively bolting the party to look after their own fortunes.

In the spring of 2009, it was Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter switching to the Democratic caucus in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to get reelected. Now, it’s Murkowski making a long-shot effort to win another term despite losing a Republican primary.

For conservative activists, portrayed throughout the cycle as a disruptive force within the GOP, the episode revives a familiar complaint: That it’s actually establishment pols who have consistently undermined efforts to unify the GOP after primary voters have spoken.

The sore-loser syndrome goes back, most memorably, to 2009, when moderate Republican Dede Scozzafava dropped out of an upstate New York congressional election and backed Democrat Bill Owens over ascendant Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman.

Skip forward to the summer of 2010 and trend continues on. First, defeated South Carolina Rep. Bob Inglis told the Associated Press that racism was a factor in the tea party movement and chided the GOP for “demagoguery” after losing his party’s nomination. Utah Sen. Bob Bennett, denied a shot at another term at a state convention in May, said in an NBC interview as recently as this month that Republicans are “long on slogans right now, but they’re short on ideas.”

Delaware Rep. Mike Castle, bested in a Republican Senate primary by activist Christine O’Donnell, declined to endorse his opponent – and a spokeswoman for Castle called O’Donnell a “con artist” after the election. Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum has withheld his endorsement from gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott, who defeated him for the GOP nomination, and has publicly cited concerns about Scott’s “character” and “integrity.”

Murkowski and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist have both committed the ultimate act of defiance, flouting the GOP entirely to continue campaigning on another ballot line. Crist even renounced his party affiliation and declared himself an independent.

Taken together, all of those episodes only heighten activists’ distrust of veteran lawmakers – and anything that smacks of political entitlement.

“The tea party activists get involved in Republican primaries, play by the rules, and then the Republican establishment candidate proves that he was never a loyal Republican in the first place and goes rogue,” said Matt Kibbe, president of the tea party-aligned group FreedomWorks. “That’s frustrating, but it’s part of the process of disciplining the Republican establishment. They’re coming around.”

Kibbe added: “What you’re seeing in the Republican primaries amounts to a hostile takeover of the Republican Party – and I mean that in the technical sense of replacing a failed management and tired ideas.”

Republican Party leaders have responded by stepping up calls for unity. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who backed O’Donnell and Hoffman, used a much-anticipated speech in Iowa to chide “unsuccessful campaigns and deflated political pundits,” insisting: “The time for primary debate is over. It’s time for unity now.”

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, hardly a wild-eyed activist, did his part for GOP cohesion after the acrimonious Delaware primary, sending $5,000 to O’Donnell and declaring in a statement: “Now is the time for Republicans to rally behind their nominee.”

Leading voices on the activist right, however, say there’s a larger issue at stake: That entrenched lawmakers still just don’t get it.

“Many of the incumbents and establishment politicians are the equivalent of career politicians. This is what they want to do the rest of their life,” said Republican consultant Greg Mueller, who has advised upstart gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott in Florida and supported unsuccessful GOP Senate candidate Ovide Lamontagne in New Hampshire. “When they lose, it’s not only politically devastating; it’s personally devastating.”

“To actually go that final lap where you’re going to run against someone who beat you in a primary,” Mueller continued, is “just exactly the kind of elitism and arrogance that people are fed up with.”

Mike Connolly, a spokesman for the anti-tax Club for Growth, which spent hundreds of thousands of dollars targeting Bennett for defeat, noted that his group has been dealing with rogue Republicans for multiple cycles now. In 2008, the Club helped Maryland state Sen. Andy Harris beat Rep. Wayne Gilchrest in a GOP primary – only to see Gilchrest endorse Democrat Frank Kratovil, who ended up winning the general election.

“Conservatives are frequently chided for using terms like RINO [Republican in Name Only], but when the RINOs lose primaries they switch parties and go play for the other team,” he said. “They lost. They weren’t drummed out of the party. Hillary Clinton wasn’t drummed out of the Democratic Party. She got beat by Barack Obama.”

Pointing out that both Bennett and Murkowski hold Senate seats their fathers once occupied, Connolly argued: “At bottom, they kind of resent that they work for the American people. They feel that they know better.”

There are exceptions to the trend: Defeated GOP Senate hopefuls Trey Grayson, in Kentucky, and Jane Norton, in Colorado, quickly endorsed their victorious primary opponents. The National Republican Senatorial Committee has already committed resources to helping Miller in Alaska and plans to spend millions of dollars boosting Marco Rubio, who pushed Crist out of the GOP primary in Florida.

In all but a few cases, lingering intra-party bitterness is unlikely to affect general election campaigns. It’s not clear that Castle could give a big lift to O’Donnell even if he did endorse her. In Florida, Republicans appear to have united behind Scott without McCollum’s help. Same goes for Connecticut, where former Rep. Rob Simmons offered only the most grudging of endorsements to wrestling executive Linda McMahon after she beat him in the Republican primary.

Even in Florida and Alaska, where Crist and Murkowski have gone so far as to campaign against the GOP’s nominees, Republicans are confident that they’ll end up ahead – but at an unnecessary and burdensome cost.

“Joe Miller will still win this seat,” one Republican strategist said before Murkowski announced her campaign Friday.

But, the strategist predicted, a campaign involving Murkowski will “require far more resources and earn her the enmity of many Republicans. She should do the right thing, be an adult and respect the decision by the voters in Alaska.”

Democrats have had costly primaries of their own, though not on the same scale as the GOP Rep. Artur Davis of Alabama, who lost the Democratic primary for governor to Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks, took to the pages of the Montgomery Advertiser to say he would not campaign for his party’s nominee because he doesn’t represent “real change.” In Kentucky, Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo issued one of the cycle’s more backhanded endorsements, saying of his victorious Senate primary opponent: “I don’t think that Jack [Conway] is the best in the state, but he’s a heck of lot better than who he’s running against.”

Fortunately for the GOP, some of the most public bloodletting has taken place far from politically contested ground: Inglis and Bennett were defeated in areas so conservative that it’s almost impossible to imagine a Democrat winning in November, no matter what the ousted incumbents say.

“I like Bob Inglis as a friend. I don’t think it matters. He got beat,” said former South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Katon Dawson. “Bob Inglis went down on his convictions. He’s a good man, but he didn’t win and his congressional career’s over.”

Dawson added, of Inglis’s exit interviews: “Maybe it’s part of the rehabilitation of understanding, ‘I didn’t win. The voters didn’t choose me this time.’”

[Second Amendment First]

“The tea party activists get involved in Republican primaries, play by the rules, and then the Republican establishment candidate proves that he was never a loyal Republican in the first place and goes rogue,” said Matt Kibbe, president of the tea party-aligned group FreedomWorks. “That’s frustrating, but it’s part of the process of disciplining the Republican establishment. They’re coming around.”

[9YearLurker]

There ought to be strings attached to all party-linked donations, saying that a sore-loser move will require amount of donations to be paid back in full within 30 days of such a move.

[tgusa]

And to those who don’t get the message..... See ya.

[Westbrook]

> the Republican establishment candidate proves that he was
> never a loyal Republican in the first place and goes rogue

The definition of a RINO, not only in elections, but in Congressional wheeling-dealing and voting.

[maine yankee]

“well regarded within the Beltway”

---

These new people, they’re not one of us.

[4rcane]

None of the RINO who lost their primary were drummed out of the party. the left themselves either by switchign party or endorsing the Democrats, PROVING that the LABEL RINO IS EXACTLY what they were

[November 2010]

There ought to be strings attached to all party-linked donations, saying that a sore-loser move will require amount of donations to be paid back in full within 30 days of such a move.
___________________________________________________________

You are so right! Bump.

[Non-Sequitur]

“Joe Miller will still win this seat,” one Republican strategist said before Murkowski announced her campaign Friday.

He should still win it even after her announcement. Write ins are a joke.

[Rummyfan]

Murkowski is, quite frankly, despicable. And the GOP leadership is acting like a spoiled child. Well, the times they are a - changing! Lead, follow, or just get the hell out of the way.

[MortMan]

“GOP’s activist base”

Politico’s bias is showing.

“well regarded inside the beltway”

If a politician is well regarded inside the beltway, but less so by their actual constituents, why the hell does the below-the-beltway regard mean diddly over squat?!?

[Diogenesis]

"Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, hardly a wild-eyed activist,
did his part for GOP cohesion after the acrimonious Delaware primary,
sending $5,000 to O’Donnell "

That was an attempt at plausible deniability.
It did not work ... except for the MSM and Politico
which is nothing more than Obama's and Romney's PRrep.

“Go Mitt. Go Mitt. Go Mitt.”

“Rove is pushing Romney so aggressively some folks are beginning to wonder what's going on,” grumbled one veteran Republican strategist.”

---

“Rove has made no secret of his support for Romney as McCain’s VP. ”

---

"Former Mitt Romney presidential campaign staffers…
have been involved in spreading anti-Palin spin to reporters, seeking to diminish her standing after the election.
'Sarah Palin is a lightweight, she won't be the first, not even the third, person people will think of when it comes to 2012,'
says one former Romney aide…
'The only serious candidate ready to challenge to lead the Republican Party is Mitt Romney.
"Some former Romney aides were behind the recent leaks to media, including CNN, that Governor Sarah Palin was a 'diva' and was going off message intentionally."

---

The Palmetto Scoop reported:
"The sources said nearly 80 percent of Romney’s former staff was absorbed by McCain and these individuals were responsible for what amounts to a premeditated, last-minute sabotage of Palin."
that Palin would be a serious contender for the Republican nomination in 2012 or 2016, which made her a threat to another presidential quest by Romney.

"Peeking Out From the McCain Wreckage: Mitt Romney"

"Someone's got to say it: IS MITT ROMNEY RESPONSIBLE FOR OBAMA'S VICTORY?"

"Vanity: Team Romney Sabotaged Palin and Continuing to Do So?"

"Romney Supporters Trashing Palin"

"Romney advisors sniping at Palin?"

---

Poor sport spoiler Romney doing what he does best:

Novak: "Fred Thompson drop-out rumors traced to Romney campaign"

Said Novak: "The rumors were traced in part to Mitt Romney's campaign,
trying to stir up strife between McCain and Thompson."

---

"Despite outspending his rivals by huge margins throughout the primaries,
(Mitt Romney, Carpetbagger UT,CA,MA,NH,Mexico) lost Iowa, South Carolina, Florida and California.
The only primaries he won were in Michigan, where Dad was governor; LDS states;
and a few states on Super Tuesday in which his California-obsessed rivals
couldn't spare the cash to advertise.
Only John Connolly in 1968 had a worse cash-to-delegates ratio.
And John McCain rightly did not like Romney's tactics during the primaries.
(W)hen (Romney's early leads) started slipping away, he resorted to unfair,
distorted, scorched-earth negative ads, betting that his opponents couldn't
afford to spend enough for the truth to catch up to his charges."
[Romney: A Mistake for McCain, 7/23/2008, Dick Morris]

[Doogle]

Sore losers?.....climb aboard or step aside,we don’t need or want whining a**holes who’s compromising past has lead us to where we are today. Do a Specter and disappear.

[jiggyboy]

[sirchtruth]

The people here who believe anyone with an (R) by their name is better than any dem candidate is blind as a bat at this point! You can not advance any a conservative agenda with moderates/rinos and the current power base establishment of the republican party. It has to change! This current political environment is the best time to do it.

I say vote for the dem against John McCain as he is chief rino. His his sorry ass needs to be removed from power! It's not going to matter in one race at this point and time.

[Drango]

Delaware’s Christine O’Donnell did the very same thing... after she lost the Republican primary for the Senate in 2006: she ran against the GOP nominee as a write-in candidate.

[Venturer]

She should get out and work to help Joe Miller get elected, instead she chose to commit political suicide.

[NavyCanDo]

There is one case where the “sore-loser” is the Tea Party endorsed candidate, and that is Clint Didier up her in Washington who took only 14% of the primary vote. The winner Dino Rossi is not a RINO so it's really upsetting many, because Didier refuses to endorse the winner. This is one case the Tea Party should of vetted their pick a little more.

[Diogenesis]

With you California, and she in Delaware,
did you learn THAT from NPR?

[Old Teufel Hunden]

"She should get out and work to help Joe Miller get elected, instead she chose to commit political suicide."

Murkowski is an idiot. She should bow out gracefully. There's a Dem in the other Senate seat. In 4 years she can run for that seat. Now she will be blacklisted from the party as she should be by pulling this stunt. And oh by the way, she has absolutely no chance to win. At least Crist could have said that he has some sort of shot to win, though it's all over now down in Florida. Losers all...

[mbynack]

There ought to be strings attached to all party-linked donations, saying that a sore-loser move will require amount of donations to be paid back in full within 30 days of such a move.

I think that's a good idea. Especially if the candidate knew that they were going to change party affiliations when they accepted the money. To me that constitutes fraud and they ought to be facing criminal charges in addition to being sued in civil court.