Posted on 06/28/2002 2:31:48 PM PDT by jern
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Vice President Dick Cheney's visit to North Carolina to help raise money for the Senate campaign of Elizabeth Dole provides another example of the Bush administration's involvement in the state's GOP primary.
A couple hundred people were expected to attend a fund-raising lunch Friday in Raleigh to hear Cheney and Dole speak. The Dole campaign said it did not know how much it would raise, but said the ticket cost would range from $500 to $2,000 per person.
Earlier this year, President Bush attended a fund-raiser for Dole in Charlotte. He also made appearances with Dole at his side in Winston-Salem and in Fayetteville.
The administration's involvement in the primary once again drew criticism from one of Dole's opponents, Jim Snyder, a Lexington attorney. In a letter, Snyder asked Cheney to reconsider his visit to Raleigh.
"What then is the necessity for such pre-emptive and such powerful intrusion prior to the primary election?" Snyder wrote. "What rationalization will suffice to justify these events? Is the Dole campaign so weakened or is the campaign of other Republican U.S. Senatorial candidates so strong as to necessitate concern from Washington that Washington's chosen candidate requires assistance?"
There are seven Republican candidates in the GOP primary.
Only those who have already purchased tickets may attend the fund-raising event.
After speaking at the Dole event, Cheney will fly to Charlotte, where he will address the opening session of the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, at which more than 1,000 Republican leaders from across the South are expected to gather.
Snyder needs to get over himself.
The concept of an administration never making pre-primary endorsements has become a sort of urban myth. While Presidents and their administrations are usually reluctant to take sides when, for example, two Members of Congress are battling for a Senate nomination, for the rather obvious reason that the support of both will be needed in Washington, getting out in front of a sure primary winner makes perfect sense.
Moreover, the situation in North Carolina this year is unique. As many FReepers are aware, a protracted redistricting battle with respect to the State Senate and State House district has been raging in the General assembly and in Federal Courts of various descriptions. Victory is at hand, and it now appears that the primaries and the general election will go forward with reasonably fair and impartial, and far less gerrymandered districts, giving the GOP better than a 50-50 chance in taking the State House (IMHO), and a one-in-three chance of controlling the State Senate, now held by the Dems by a 35-15 margin (again, MHO only). Yes, we're talking political earthquake in NC, and pending the approval of the DOJ, which I expect soon, we're off to the races in what should culminate in one of the more exciting November election nights in North Carolina history. But first, the new filing deadline and election date must be set.
Of course, this whole battle has affected the strategy in the Senate race, whose primary would have been held in May (as I recall; some alert FReeper will corrrect me if I'm wrong) except for the redistricting fight. Now the primary election will probably be held in August or September, and there will apparently be no runoff; plurality wins. The lack of a runoff might make the Dem Senate primary interesting. Erskine Bowles, with name recognition and a huge monetary advantage remains the heavy favorite, but Dan Blue could make it interesting in a plurality-wins-all scenario, as essentially all the black vote will go to him, while Bowles splits the rest of the vote with Elaine Marshall and others.
On "our" side, our fundraising is impaired due to the late crowning of the victor, even though we all know who it will be. Ms. Dole will likely be the only candidate running TV spots in anything more than a token number, and is the only GOP candidate raising significant funds; she'll win in a walk. But she's likely to face a financial disadvantage in the general election, if Bowles is the nominee as expected. Hollywood money, Hamptons money, Georgetown money, and most importantly and inexhaustively, his wife's money. If he and his advisors can convince themselves, come October, that he's within 10% of Ms. Dole in the polls, there's no imagining how much money he may spend.
I tell you the truth, Fruitcake Dole and her mechanized husband would have to pay ME $2000.00 to sit and listen to her lie to me over dinner.
I will be amazed if anyone shows up.
Liddy is a Conservative now.. Said it herself.
So everything is okay again. (blink-blink)
(I swear, I want the senate back real bad, but man.. So I agree on the ends, but the means are almost too painful to bear.)
To think we're losing a conservative lion and getting a RINO "common sense gun safety" terd in exchange is IMO a microcosm of what's going wrong with the party.
That said, it would take many more major blunders before I could feel animosity towards Cheney, unlike his boss who's already managed to suck every last bit of patience out many of us.
I would imagine he's going along to get along at times. I'm sure he, Wolfie and Rumsfeld have been forced to swallow quite a bit in the last 2 years.
I'm looking forward to having him as President tomorrow, we haven't had a conservative in that post for nearly a generation!
Now, remember this is the same Liddy who's husband got the pants beaten off him by the toon.
It's also the same woman who came out of the box with good numbers and a real shot at the Presidency. Then, during the Republican Primary (when all the right wing nutcases like us are watching intently) she got arrogant, went left.. slammed guns and embraced abortion.
THEN, her numbers plummetted (big suprise there.. Even algor is scared to openly attack the second amendment, and he's a democrat) so she quit and whined about how it was OUR FAULT SHE LOST BECAUSE WE ARE SCARED OF POWERFUL WOMEN.
AND NOW, she's "Conservative" again and she's pro-gun and pro-life.
I am not so sure this is necessary or even a good idea in our quest for the Senate.. I would have much perfered the administration simply let the voters pick their candidate and then back them to the hilt after they have done so.
A whiney rino anti-gun turd at that.. She's a dissapointment from every angle. Her and that robotic dweeb she's married to.
I agree with you about Cheney though.. The best debate of the entire election was him and Joe Lieberman. All I could think was: "Wow, now the adults get a turn.."
Me too.. We gotta have em..
No argument there.
Yea or Gerald Ford who was much like Carter in policy or lack there of.
Okay, that's a mitigating circumstance for sure..
I wasn't aware of this and I thank you for enlightening me.
However Jim Snyder remains the ultimate wild card.
Snyder with the opportunity to continue setting the tempo in the GOP primary race. His revamped organization now projecting 75K in July contributions (first month of new federal election reporting cycle.) This is peanuts compared to what Ms Dole has on hand, however these figures significant in that they permit him to prep and fire a couple of lit drops that will be devastating for Ms Dole.
Ms Dole, meanwhile, will react by pouring more money into her disasterous new TV commercials. These spots, shot slightly out of focus and with soft lighting, attempting a surrealistic high tech look that is bombing in eastern North Carolina.
This ad campaign should be scrapped immediately. Vinroot and Faircloth redux is suicide this time.
Snyder preparing a devastating late July radio campaign in selected markets that will continue to identify Ms Dole as a centrist -- even as Mr Bowles edges slightly to the right.
If Bowles is within ten points by October he will spend money? Bowles is within ten points right now. GOP insiders praying each night that the second primary is eliminated thus letting Dan Blue somehow split the white vote and face Dole/Snyder in November.
Bowles walking the GOP frontrunners down now. Should Marc Basnight and gang manage to pull off a split state/federal election schedule then the Dems will have the scenario they need to sweep the entire ticket. The GOP must have combined elections to draw off the synergy of the probable Dole primary win all the way down the ticket.
Thus DOJ preclearance will be delayed another week.
J
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