Posted on 05/10/2002 8:42:41 AM PDT by Baseballguy
JIM PARKER FOR U.S. SENATE CAMPAIGN
---UPDATE---
www.parkerforsenate.org
Televised Interview
An interview with Jim Parker will be aired on Public Television (UNC-TV) this Friday, May 10th during the North Carolina Now show which begins at 7:30 PM. Tell your friends and check it out. Issues that will be discussed include the Right to Bear Arms, the left-shift of the Republican Party, the War-on-Drugs, Immigration, Health Care, Education, taxes, Veterans Rights, and more.
Dole Ducks Debates
Since the last update, Dole has continued her pattern of avoiding the other candidates. Following the High Point University forum on March 26th, Dole has also skipped forums held by the Young Republicans and the North Carolina Republican Assembly in Statesville on April 6th, the NC State University forum in Raleigh on April 11th, and an NC Press Association forum in New Bern on April 20th. Jim Parker, despite his full time job, has participated in all of these events. In addition, he has attended Republican County GOP meetings as far west as Cherokee County and as far east as Beaufort County. While Parker often meets other Republican candidates at the open-invitation GOP County meetings, he has never seen Dole at one. If a candidate works so hard to avoid confrontation, how can we expect her to do anything else once she is in the Senate? What is she so afraid of? Would being in the same room with six honestly conservative Republican candidates be that uncomfortable for her?
Food for Thought {from the candidate}
As a newcomer to politics, I cannot coast on name recognition and Washington endorsements. I hope to make this election about the issues, not fame or money.
As a physician, I will continue to advocate medical care in the best interest of the patient. It is the interest of the patient, not the trial attorney, or HMO, or pharmaceutical company, that should drive any changes in our health care system.
I disagree with President Bush on several important domestic issues: 1) I oppose his open borders policy - I will fight for securing our borders (with our military if necessary) against the illegal entry of non-citizen, 2) I oppose amnesty for illegal aliens, 3) I oppose the recent expansion of the Department of Education, 3) I oppose the anti-First Amendment gag orders in the new Campaign Finance Reform Act, 4) I oppose the violations of our civil rights contained in the new USA Patriot Act, 5) I oppose the federal takeover of airport security; 6) I object to his strategy of endorsing liberal Republican candidates (especially before the primaries) as he has done in California, Iowa, Tennessee, and North Carolina.
While there is much to admire about President Bush, I believe North Carolina would be best served by a Senator not excessively beholden to him.
Comments on the Primary Election
Part of the purpose of the Primary process is to hone the debating skills of the candidates, particularly with regard to important and controversial issues. Presumably, whoever wins will be well prepared to fight in the General election. Mrs. Dole is short-changing Republican voters and herself by skipping every debate and open forum event being held throughout the state. She is only speaking at events where she is the only U.S. Senate candidate allowed to speak. Some pundits have observed that Lauch Faircloth lost to John Edwards because Edwards went through an intense Primary contest that sharpened his skills for the General election, while Faircloth did not. If Dole wins the nomination, she will be in the same boat.
There is another reason that Dole will be unlikely to win in the General election if she were to win the Primary... There are over 700,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans in North Carolina. The only way a Republican can win in a statewide election is if conservative Democrats cross party lines to vote for a candidate who strongly supports specific issues important to them. This is how Republican Jesse Helms was elected to five terms in the Senate. Dole is on record as an NRA-bashing gun-control advocate. She opposed Jesse Helms and President Reagan when they called for ending race and gender based preferences in federal contracting. She has flip-flopped on abortion. For these reasons alone, she will be unable to motivate conservative Democrats to abandon their party. Moreover, many conservative Republicans may stay home from the polls if they see no truly conservative candidate on the ballot. On the other hand, I can garner the support of both Democratic and Republican conservatives who are issue-based voters. Its just a matter of reaching voters with the message that there really is a sincere candidate who understands and will fight for their issues.
We still dont know when the Primary will be held. It may be as early as July, or as late as September, with the General Election held in November or December.
Many people have asked about what percentage of the votes it takes to win the Primary. Any candidate receiving more than 40% of their partys vote wins the party nomination. If no one reaches that many votes, the top two vote-getters move to a runoff election.
Heres how I can win: First you must understand that victories in primary elections are decided by a small percentage of the registered voters... only highly motivated voters bother to vote in primary elections. Because I have made a clear stand on issues important to the people, I have many highly motivated supporters. If I can get into a runoff election with Dole, it will make national news and send shock waves through the Republican establishment. According to the political pundits, challengers often win in runoff elections, and I believe that with full media focus, I would beat Dole one-on-one. That upset victory would create momentum that would carry through to the General election.
I hope I can count on your help and your vote in the upcoming Primary, whenever it may be!
Jim Parker
[Jim Parker, MD, is a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in North Carolina.]
Visit the website at: www.parkerforsenate.org
GOVERNOR:
Mike Easley (D)
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR:
Beverly Perdue (D)
SECRETARY OF STATE:
Elaine Marshall (D)
STATE AUDITOR:
Ralph Campbell Jr. (D)
ATTORNEY GENERAL:
Roy Cooper (D)
STATE TREASURER:
Richard Moore (D)
SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION:
Mike Ward (D)
STATE AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER:
Meg Scott Phipps (D)
STATE INSURANCE COMMISSIONER:
Jim Long (D)
It seems to me that winning statewide in NC as a Repubican is growth industry, but one that most aren't up to the task for. This state elected John Edwards to the senate only 4 years ago. The only way a GOP candidate can win is to have huge amounts of favorable name ID and cash. Parker can work on the name ID by running for any of the above posts in 2004. Right now, no one has the cash and positive name ID that Dole has in NC (in either party).
The ONLY reason Liddy is a "Republican" is because she married Bob. Otherwise, she was raised a yellow-dog Democrat in the south and was one of Lyndon Johnson's biggest supporters. You think that would make her appealing to the N.C. RINOs who miss Sam Ervin and the old bigoted Democrat rule, but even THEY won't back Liddy because she's been out of the state for 40 years and is therefore viewed as a Kansasan, despite her slight southern accent. The RINOs will take BOWLES over Dole (heck, they want the Democrat controlled legislature to run everything!)
I know our "national" Republican "leaders" think she'd be a great candidate in the general election, but if you look at their track record of backing primary candidates in Illinois (Ryan), California (Riordan), etc., you'll see they are clueless about state races.
Good job getting the word out on Jim Parker. He knows the people of North Carolina, and he believes in the Republican Party and its platform. Parker is the only shot North Carolinians have of a conservative to balence out the liberal voting record of pretty-boy John Edwards. If I lived in the tar heel state, I'd vote for him in a second.
I almost missed this, thanks for posting.
I will ping the NC list.
Thanks,
CD
1) You want to be added to my North Carolina ping-list.
2) You no longer want to be included in this North Carolina ping-list.
FRegards,
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