Run for Governor? GOP Again Told, "No Thanks" (WA Gov. Race)

Seattle Times ^ | 12 August 2003 | Andrew Garber

[goody2shooz]

Where's Dixie Lee Ray when we really need her?

Dead.

[oreolady]

How about you, Pub?

[oreolady]

Cmon, Bill, I wanted to se those body-peircers pay like the rest of us. You're da man.

[jennyp]

The body piercing surtax was out.

LOL, now there's a tax I could get behind! We should talk initiative drive...

[Eala]

Do the decent, traditional American families of Washington stand a chance? Is there still hope?

Yes, there is, but only if they discard the notion that they've done all they can by voting.

I don't know how many voters we've got in our once traditionally Republican state legislative district, but it's probably in the hundreds of thousands. In the last election my wife and I worked (primarily) for a Republican trying to unseat a liberal whose money comes mostly from outside the district. We spent weekend after weekend working precincts that didn't have a single Republican willing to step up and be a PCO -- and so did the ten other volunteers, most of whom we've known from other campaigns. But our numbers were so small that precincts were skipped because there was nobody and no time to cover them.

It was heartbreaking to see our candidate lose by a percentage point, knowing that if just 1/10 of 1% of even just the conservative Republicans in our district had volunteered but one afternoon to help, we would have had dozens of times the manpower -- and likely taken the election.

But they didn't so we didn't so our candidate didn't -- and we all get to pay the price.

[goodnesswins]

You forgot the ABORTION TAX!!!

[Publius]

After a speech on private sector rail initiatives six years ago, I had people saying I should run for office. But the simplest opposition research would finish me.

• As soon as someone finds out I'm a FReeper, they could do enough opposition research on this site to hang me in this state. Just being a FReeper would be the kiss of death here. I'd spend the entire campaign explaining away things I said in 1997.
• When Republican social conservatives discover that I'm pro-choice, an atheist and a libertarian who is a Republican because the Libertarian Party is useless, I'd get crushed in the primary. (A Libertarian Party meeting falls apart when someone says, "I call this meeting to order," and half the room starts screaming "Statist!")

The first thing the party brass asks you when you tell them you want to run for office is, "How much money can you raise?" It's one of the harder facts of American politics. I don't know anybody who would want to bankroll me without wanting to own my soul after the election.

You need to have a track record of success in the public or private sectors to make a credible candidate, and I'm not there yet. (I'm more like one of those fringe candidates running for governor of California.)

[ppaul]

Rossi said he may decide by the end of September.

In September?
LOL!
Why then bother to waste one dime on the race?
He'll lose.
Everyone knows it.
Better to spend money on local races with at least a "snowball's chance in hell" of winning", wouldn't you say?

[ppaul]

Do the decent, traditional American families of Washington stand a chance? Is there still hope?

Yes.
Be patient, my friend. Be patient.
So long as those conservative Republicans continue to have big families with lots of children, the "zero population growth" pro-abortion socialists (who now control the state's political apparatus) will eventually die out, and the new generations who grew up instilled with morals and values from conservative parents will take over.
Oh happy day!
Pray you'll still be alive to see it.

[ppaul]

We can make our on for less than half what they charge in a shop!! AND THEY ARE BETTER!! ;^)

Haven't found anyone who can consistently make one better than Starbucks.
Period.

[RetiredArmy]

You have your opinion pal and I have mine. I will stick with mine. YOU can do as you please.

[irishtenor]

Me too. We'll split the vote. I'll get two, you get the rest:>)

[jennyp]

When Republican social conservatives discover that I'm pro-choice, an atheist and a libertarian who is a Republican because the Libertarian Party is useless, I'd get crushed in the primary.

Hey, you too? Well, I'm closer to full pro-life than pro-choice, but atheist libertarian Republican because the LP is useless - yep that's me. And hubby too. I wonder how many of us there are?