Tea Party Claims First Victory of 2014

washingtonexaminer.com/ ^ | APRIL 23, 2014 | JOEL GEHRKE

[BarnacleCenturion]

Tea Party candidate Curt Clawson won the Republican primary in the special election seat to replace Rep. Trey Radel, R-Fla., who resigned after pleading guilty for cocaine possession, a victory that the Tea Party Express is claiming as "the movement's first victory of 2014."

Clawson received 46 percent of the vote, according to Naples News. “The results tonight were clear, Curt Clawson's Tea Party message of economic growth and fiscal responsibility resonated with the voters of Southwest Florida," said political strategist Sal Russo of the Tea Party Express, which was one of the first Tea Party groups to support Clawson.

...

The race divided national Tea Party icons, though, as Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., backed Clawson while former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin endorsed Florida state Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, who received about 16 percent of the vote.

[cripplecreek]

With Terri Land in Michigan we aren’t getting a tea party firebrand but she is a decent enough republican who knows who the opposition is and doesn’t attack the tea party.

A definite gain for the tea party in the sense that she’s one less enemy to worry about.

[C. Edmund Wright]

Good Michigan info…what about Clawson?

[NFHale]

Like I said...

No seat is “safe”.

Just because someone labels themselves as Tea Party candidates, it doesn’t mean they are.

These folks have been playing the political gamesmanship for a long time (look at Lindsay Graham and his manipulations)m and they’re in Survival Mode right now. They will do and say anything to get in or remain in power.

[C. Edmund Wright]

Good Michigan info about Land…what about Clawson? I mean, I know that’s Florida and not Michigan, but wondered if you followed it.

[cripplecreek]

I don’t know anything about this Clawson guy or what motivates him. His donations to the GOPe are pretty much standard procedure and I have no clue as to why he would have donated to Stupidcow.

I just know its not unusual for big money donors to give money to both sides.

[C. Edmund Wright]

I just know its not unusual for big money donors to give money to both sides.

yes it is, you are right - but it's not usual for those kind of donors to be considered fabulous Tea Party candidates…..

[AuH2ORepublican]

“I just know its not unusual for big money donors to give money to both sides.”

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That is, as a general rule, true. But Clawson didn’t make the types of donations that one would expect a CEO to make; he gave nothing (at least at the federal level) prior to 2009, then gave $1,000 to Stabenow (3 years before her reelection—it was one of her early fundraisers to pad her cash-on-hand and scare off potential Republican challengers), then $10,000 to Mitch McConnell at the end of 2013 (the max donations for the primary and the general, with the remainder going to the state party). This isn’t the case of a CEO who gives to both the committee chairman and the ranking minority member of the committees that regulate his company’s industry; his donations are more akin to someone without a set political ideology who wanted to do some networking with politically connected folks in the state where his company was located so he went to a Stabenow fundraiser, and then, after he decided that he was a conservative Republican who wanted to move somewhere and run for Congress, he gave $10,000 to arguably the highest-ranking Republican in the nation.

I hope that Clawson is as conservative as he claims, but this guy has been subject to no vetting, and has absolutely no record to prove his conservative bona fides. Huge gamble for Florida Republicans to have chosen Clawson over two candidates with long, proven conservative records.

We know nothing about Clawson’s political views prior to 2013 or 2014.

[AuH2ORepublican]

I just saw that the linked article says that Clawson beat Benacquisto by 46%-16%; I don’t what the Naples News was smoking, but the final election results were Clawson 38%, Benacquisto 26% and Kreegel 25%.

http://www.politico.com/2014-election/special/results/map/house/florida/primary/april-22/#.U1kklOmYa70

[BillyBoy]

>> Curt Clawson definitely donated to the ultraliberal Democrat Senator Stabenow’s 2012 reelection campaign (see below, from OpenSecrets.org’s donor lookup; it’s definitely the same Curtis Clawson, since he was CEO of Hayes Lemmerz International at the time of such donations). And even worse in the eyes of the “Tea Party” purists who eschew anyone who has an actual record in politics, the only $200+ federal political contributions that Clawson has made since the late 1990s apart from his recent donation to the “Dangerously Incompetent” Stabenow were to ... wait for it ... Mitch McConnell and to the McConnell-controlled Republican Party of Kentucky! If those self-proclaimed “Tea Party leaders” are to be consistent, they should demand that Clawson drop out of the race and permit the GOP to nominate a candidate who is not “a stooge for the GOPe” like Clawson obviously must be—I mean, what is more “establishment” than donating to Mitch McConnell’s reelection campaign? At least Clawson donated to ultraliberal Democrat Stabenow, so I guess that proves he’s no Republican. Whew! Close one for the Tea Party Express—they almost endorsed a conservative Republican by mistake, but Clawson’s Stabenow donation will save its reputation. <<

It looks like the TPX ("Tea Party Express") record of backing the wrong horse in GOP primaries will remain intact. Why so many freepers listen to some California-based group telling other states who to vote for is beyond me (what happened to all that "states rights", "end the 17th amendment", "empower the states" stuff they preach? Guess it goes out the window if some "Tea Party" group from California says they know what's best for Florida citizens)

The pro-Clawson freepers saying Sarah Palin has occasionally made lousy endorsements and her opinion shouldn't be taken as gospel have a valid point. However, they're also ignoring the fact that the "Tea Party Express" doesn't just occasionally make lousy endorsements, they almost ALWAYS do so.

I hope I'm wrong and Clawson turns out to be a great candidate and solid conservative. But I'm not holding my breath.

[GOPsterinMA]

“Kind of like the TP leaders who idiotically jumped in behind Todd Akin.”

You’re preaching to the choir, brother!

[Impy]

Too bad Florida doesn’t have primary runoffs.

[AuH2ORepublican]

There should be primary run-offs in every state. The only question subject to debate is whether the run-off should be triggered if no one gets 50%+1 (as in most states with run-offs) or if no one gets 40%+1 (as in NC).

[fieldmarshaldj]

Exactly. But I’d tend to go with 50%+1. I think it’s important the nominee have the support of a majority of the party voters. Also, even more important than that, EVERY state needs to have CLOSED primaries, period.

[Impy]

How about 45%? Didn’t Georgia used to have that threshold? Anyone getting 45% or greater usually wins the runoff.

Hmm In 2012 Texas primary Dewhurst got 44.67%.

Perhaps 50% is best.

[BillyBoy]

>> EVERY state needs to have CLOSED primaries, period. <<

What floors me is how many voters claim to be "registered Republicans" in states like Illinois that have no party registration and they let you pick which party ballot you want when you show up for the primary election. They may have a record of voting in GOP primaries, but they're not "registered" with that party.

Liberals particularly like to claim to be "registered Republicans" whenever they're trying to sway the GOP to move left: "I'm a registered Republican and I support gay marriage". Sure, and I'm a registered member of MENSA.

The other one that gets me is voters who request "punch cards" and demand to know where's the one button they can press to "vote a straight party ticket". This was going on rampantly during Pat Quinn's stolen election over Bill Brady in 2010. These people claim to have voted in every election, but somehow failed to notice that punch cards were eliminated in Illinois in 2002 (thanks to the infamous Bush-Gore battle in Florida) and one-punch straight ticket voting was eliminated way back in 1980 or something along those lines. When the dummies find out they actually have to find the D candidate on the ballot manually, they just punch RAT for Governor or President, leave the rest of their ballot blank, and then cast their vote. Gotta love lazy RAT voting zombies.

Polls show the number of voters who identify as "Independents" is at all-time high, but it sure doesn't seem that way whenever people up on election. For every voter who hates to choose a partisan ballot, there's five more claiming to be a registered member of one and demanding a straight-party ticket.

[Impy]

Straight ticket voting was eliminated in 1996 by the lame duck GOP legislature after the election.

I remember “Punch (whatever)” vote straight rat ads from 1996.

Possibly if they had abolished it in 1995 the rats wouldn’t have taken back the state house in 1996.

[Impy]

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1996-11-07/news/9611070214_1_al-salvi-ballots-punch

Straight ticket voting was a terrible thing, enable the lazy rat voters.

[AuH2ORepublican]

“Also, even more important than that, EVERY state needs to have CLOSED primaries, period.”

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Agreed. I would posit that it is a violation of the First Amendment to prevent citizens that organize themselves as political parties to be able to determine who their standard-bearer will be in an election.