Posted on 06/24/2014 10:53:20 PM PDT by bd476
Politico
By ANNA PALMER | 6/25/14 12:24 AM EDT
HATTIESBURG, MISS. — A defiant Chris McDaniel walked up to the podium at his election night headquarters here after the Republican runoff was called for his opponent Sen. Thad Cochran — and then he didn't concede.
"We had a dream and the dream is still with us," said McDaniel to an increasingly vocal crowd, telling them that the fight is not over. "Today the conservative movement took a backseat to liberal Democrats in Mississippi."
Cochran's strategy Tuesday was to expand the electorate by ginning up votes from voters who don’t typically participate in Republican primaries, including blacks and Democrats. Mississippi voting rules allow anyone to participate in a primary.
(Full primary election results here)
But the tea party-backed McDaniel camp cried foul, sending in poll monitors and questioning the final outcome of the race.
More than 200 supporters gathered in the Hattiesburg Lake Terrace Convention Center were just as angry at the loss to Cochran that virtually assures the 76-year-old an easy win toward a seventh term in the general election.
They cheered his defiance and chanted “Write Chris In!” as he took the stage and calling out “It’s not over Chris” and “We’re not going with Thad.”
McDaniel supporters quickly moved to consider legal challenges based on reported voting irregularities.
Senate Conservatives Fund’s Ken Cuccinelli hung up on a POLITICO reporter when asked if they would consider challenging the result in court.
McDaniel said that Republicans must find their “backbone again” and called out irregularities at polling operations.
Cochran’s win was a major victory for the GOP Republican establishment that included heavy investment by the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
McDaniel had tried to position Cochran as a Washington insider with a history of pork barrel projects. His loss was the second major tea party defeat of the evening. Rep. James Lankford bested primary opponent T.W. Shannon in the Oklahoma Senate GOP primary.
It’s a major loss for national tea party groups, who had hoped to capitalize on Dave Brat’s upset in Virginia to defeat House Majority Leader Eric Cantor earlier this month. FreedomWorks put an aggressive ground game together holding rallies and blanketing the state with yard signs. Club for Growth also put in financial resources during the run-off for an ad buy.
Despite playing Pharrell’s “Get Lucky” over the loud speaker system as McDaniel closed the gap within a few thousand votes wasn’t enough to put the tea party favorite over the top.
The mood quickly soured as word that Cochran had bested McDaniel in the run-off. Some hugged, others shook their heads while yet others headed for the exits before McDaniel even took the stage to address the crowd.
What had started as a confident evening with McDaniel supporters predicting a victory quickly turned into a vent session over dirty politics.
“This is such a perverting of a fair election system that we are outraged the Secretary of State hasn’t stepped in,” said Ray Nicholson, the founding and past chairman of the Mississippi Tea Party. “I think it is going to badly hurt the Republican party in Mississippi.”
Barry Neyrey, chairman of the South Mississippi Tea Party on the Gulf Coast, blamed Cochran’s move to try and expand the electorate and increase Democratic turnout in the primary is “dirty politics.”
“That is corruption, that is Washington corruption on full display and that is what Chris McDaniel was trying to fight, is trying to fight against, the corruption of Washington,” Neyrey said.
The political activist said McDaniel’s loss is making him rethink his involvement.
“It makes you want to quit being involved. I never believed a third party would work, maybe that’s the only way to get rid of the corruption of Washington, the corruption of the Democratic party, the corruption of the Republican party,” Neyrey said. “These people do not exist to serve the public, they exist to serve themselves and each other.”
—Alex Burns contributed to this report.
I hope that Chris does run as an independent. I hope that Ms. laws permit it. Bob
I have long believed that minorities in America CHOOSE to be led as bleating sheep. But I resolve to reject ALL of those senators who met recently to cough up almost a million dollars to save senile old pervert cretin Cochran. I despise them more than Obama.
What will be needed is massive civil disobedience on a very large scale and huge demonstrations in DC. But when will Americans get the same cojones as Poles, Cairo Egyptians, and the Ukrainians? That is the question.
"The establishment must pay for treachery. Write In McDaniels"
If it can be done, I say do it.
It's becoming pretty clear that Cochran only "won" last night because of a dramatic increase in votes from people who broke the rules. And just as bad, they rushed out to vote based upon the impression created by race-baiters (implicitly suported by Cochran, the GOP-e, the NRSC, Haley Barbour, the Chamber of Amnesty, etc.) that Tea Party members are "racists".
I understand Dems playing the race card (they have nothing else), but for fellow Republicans to do so- that's as insulting as it gets. If the GOP-e is fine with hardcore Dems mucking up the Republican electoral process, then they may have to live with a Dem winning the race in November in a three-way race. They need to be taught a lesson...
They are counting on McDaniel supporters to just let them get away with treachery and not react at all. They expect all those McDaniel voters to just suck it up and vote for Cochran. I wouldn’t do it. I’d be so mad at the betrayal of a fair vote that there’s no way I’d vote for Cochran.
“If McDaniel runs as a write-in, he’ll just pull votes from Cochran.”
that is the idea, if mcdaniel wants to win as a write-in.
[ 3 Parties is how it is done in the UK. The GOP(e) is so entrenched that they will never ever embrace conservative values. Their function in life is to be life long politicians and suck the lifeblood out of our country.
Enough is enough. ]
Vote USIP!!!!
Mississippi election law. Independent candidates for any office have to have filed by March 1, which is the same date as candidates from political parties have to file by in order to run in the primaries. That prevents any candidate who loses a primary from appearing on the ballot as an independent or any other party candidate. The best McDaniel can do is try and whip up a write in effort.
Thank-you!
I don't disagree with you there. If Barbour & Co. think this is the end of their problems then I think they've got another thing coming to them. The 2016 elections in Mississippi should be very interesting.
At this point I think most would be happy with any result that sends Thad packing. A message needs to be sent.
“I’m saying this as an officer in the GOP - McDaniel, run as an Independent.
Anyone who courts Democrats to win the primary like Cochran did does not deserve the GOP nomination.”
I agree.
In the past, I used to be one of those “OK, we lost - but now for party unity, it’s time to get behind __________.”
This one is different. It has a really bad taste and smell to it. What the K Street/Haley Barbour crowd was within the rules - but it was sleazy beyond belief.
I think that McDaniel ought to mount a strong independent candidacy. If he saps away enough votes from Cochran to cost him the victory, so be it.
Earlier this morning I thought , cross over and vote Demonrat. Screw Haley Barbour and McCain.
After sleeping and clearing my head, why not write-in the vote for McDaniels.
If the Demonrats vote Thaddeus in the Primary, will they stay with him in the General?
A write-in by the Conservatives and those fed up with the collusion between black Demonrats and Thaddeus, could split the vote three ways. There by, the possibility of a McDaniel win or a run-off.
A write-in vote would screw Haley and John(Both Boors!) if it split the GOP-E tally!
....”Uncivil men and corrupted institutions do not regard nor respect a civil society....They will subjugate it”...
Indeed!
Changing tagline.
It’s the electoral college system that encourages the 2 party oligarchy.
That is a blatant falsehood. OVERT TYRANTS NEVER cede to 'civil disobedience'.
And that is what we are dealing with here with the MarxoFascists - TYRANTS.
You think marching with signs is going to end this tyranny??? WE DID THAT ALREADY - and all it earned is ridicule, demonization and threats. The only thing the protests in DC accomplished was bringing the contempt the Ruling Class has for us out into the open.
Look man, this ideology WARGAMED exterminating 60-70 million of us back in the 80's. History teaches anytime a government demonizes a particular group of people - that government ALWAYS engages in pograms to eradicate them.
You obviously have no clue what we are dealing with here and what is now ruling over us. Demonstrations are only going to embolden and solidify the resolve of the Ruling Class to do something about ending us. Mark my words.
This is our viewpoint about what McConnell did in KY. We are not voting for McConnell in November. I would rather see Grimes get that seat than let a slime who declared war on Conservatives get my vote.
We will vote 3rd party or write in of a Conservative.
Nonsense. One little day with a relatively few people? That was a pitiful approach, though perhaps a useful start. But it's a very poor effort compared with the Poles and the Egyptians, who both mobilized huge numbers of demonstrators and got rid of Morsey, who was much worse than we face so far, and a well-entrenched Communist government.
Where are the US cojones? Waiting for things to get really worse, perhaps.
...”Where are the US cojones? Waiting for things to get really worse, perhaps”....
Yes.
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.