Posted on 06/28/2014 3:41:52 AM PDT by OldRanchHand
JACKSON, MISS. — Chris McDaniel supporters vowed to keep up the fight after the primary runoff was called for Sen. Thad Cochran Tuesday night, but by Wednesday afternoon several outside groups and one prominent Mississippi Republican threw cold water on talk of an official challenge.
“My understanding is that is not going to happen,” said Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) from Washington. “I kind of heard it through the grapevine at lunch.”
Wicker supported Cochran’s reelection and was intimately involved in his fundraising operation for the runoff.
The Club for Growth and Senate Conservatives Fund — two of McDaniel’s biggest national allies — characterized the race as a loss.
“We are proud of the effort we made in Mississippi’s Senate race and we congratulate the winner,” said Club for Growth President Chris Chocola in a statement. “We expect that Senator Cochran and others gained a new appreciation of voter frustration about the threats to economic freedom and national solvency. In light of our experience of the last ten years, we move forward even more confidently than we did the day after the 2004 Pennsylvania primary.”
McDaniel and his allies cried foul over Cochran’s move to woo Democratic and black voters.
McDaniel gave a defiant speech Tuesday night after the final election results came in and did not formally concede the race. On Wednesday McDaniel preserved his right to challenge his loss in Tuesday’s Mississippi GOP Senate runoff.
“In the coming days, our team will look into the irregularities to determine whether a challenge is warranted,” McDaniel said in a statement late today. “After we’ve examined the data, we will make a decision about whether and how to procede (sic).”
McDaniel’s camp is examining the possibility of a challenge based on ballots cast by people who voted in the June 3 Democratic primary and also in the runoff Tuesday. His spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.
Mississippi State GOP Chairman Joe Nosef said it remains to be seen how McDaniel and his supporters will handle Cochran’s apparent win.
“We’ve got people talking about challenges and all kinds of things … I saw the McDaniel speech and he seemed certainly disappointed and upset and I certainly understand that. He ran a hard campaign and put a lot into it,” Nosef said. Asked if it was time to move on, the chairman answered: “I certainly have that sense … I don’t know.”
Still, some groups here are contemplating their options. Mississippi Tea Party Chair Laura Van Overschelde said they are in the process of gathering evidence to show how Cochran’s camp misused the political system.
“We are looking at our options right now,” Van Overschelde said.
Christian Adams, a former Bush Justice Department official, also said that he was reviewing hundreds of pages of potential irregularities.
Perhaps the republican party should use this energy to get democrats unseated instead of going after conservatives. Fixed it for you.
I’ve got a hunch the worst challenge Cochran will face is getting votes in November from either Tea Party types OR blacks. Since he ran on the Democrat platform (”I’ll bring home the bacon”), why would any Republican vote for him?
Agree with you about civil discourse, to a point.
What the ‘leaders’ of the GOP did in Mississippi was IMHO unforgivable.
They slandered the ‘Taxed Enough Already’ base of there own party with slanderous lies used by the most vile of the opposition.
I reject as ‘straw man’ the claim all efforts should be aimed at the Democrats when our own party needs a thorough house cleaning.
I can understand the ‘ideological purity’ Vs ‘pragmatic’ part of your argument, but who can I support when our own side engages in the type of filth & underhanded tactics I despise when it comes daily from the left?
I hope and pray the establishment has finally started a fire in Mississippi that consumes them. Time has come to throw the baby out with the bathwater, sadly.
Looks like Old Ranch Hand has gone to that big roundup in the sky.
That you Karl?
McDaniel won the Republican primary among Republicans. Anyone who says 'move on' is not willing to fight for honest elections.
If you think changes can be made in Washington by Republicans who are no different than Democrats-—who use Democrat tactics and support Democrat policies-—then you’re part of the problem.
It’s way, way past time to wake up.
Enjoy your proliberal zot creampuff.
You're cute.
You beat me to it.
There were more than a handful of illegal votes and race-baiting is not “smart politics” and misusing a system designed to give Dems a chance to select the opposite party’s candidate if they’re more inclined to vote for them than their own party’s candidate is not “smart politics”
Who are you?
That begs the question...how badly do you want to win elections? Are you willing to do so at any cost? Willing to embrace evil positions? Lie to the electorate? Maliciously slander an opponent? Break election laws?
He'll probably be back. If not, there are plenty of hold-yer-nosers to take his place.
I just don't get why they can't see that this situation a whole different animal than what the Republicans normally dish out. Usually it's just lip service toward smaller government and stroking the conservatives for money.
Remember Mississippi!
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