Posted on 05/01/2004 5:03:08 AM PDT by Elkiejg
NRO: Is this your first interview since the election?
Rep. Pat Toomey: Yes it is.
NRO: Given that you lost, what do you think your campaign accomplished?
Toomey: Well I'm still sorting that out, Ramesh, and trying to figure out what if anything it accomplished. When you consider the obstacles we faced and how close we got, it makes it clear that there is a real interest in seeing the Republican party govern as a conservative party, certainly in Pennsylvania.
NRO: What does the campaign say about the strength of the conservative movement, most of its institutions having backed you?
Toomey: The vast majority of them were on my side but very much to varying degrees of involvement. The Club for Growth was terrific, very strong and very involved. Much of the conservative print media, led by National Review of course, was on my side. There were others: the Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, Human Events.
NRO: Rush Limbaugh?
Toomey: I think to a large degree Rush sat out the race.
NRO: Looking back at the race, were there any mistakes you would avoid if you did it again?
Toomey: I really don't think we made any blunders, I don't think we made any significant mistakes in terms of allocating resources. Looking back, there might have been ways to more effectively exploit the Internet. But would it have made the difference in the race? It's hard to say. I have to tell you, I feel pretty good about how we ran the race. We had a lot of discipline in terms of our message. We had limited resources and we developed a strategy based on our resrouces and it came very close to working for us.
NRO: Why should your supporters vote for Specter?
Toomey: Well, the alternative is worse. Joe Hoeffel will never be with Republicans or conservatives on anything. That's number one, and number two: I think we're going to hold on to the Senate and probably grow our majority. Increasing the Republican majority is a good thing. Every Republican makes it harder for the Democrats to filibuster.
NRO: But given that so many conservatives wanted Specter out on Tuesday, and that he has been moving left since then, do you think Specter will be able to win the votes of your supporters?
Toomey: I don't know.
NRO: Do you have any hard feelings toward Santorum?
Toomey: (Pause.) No, not really. I haven't spoken with him in a while.
NRO: You didn't get a call from him after the primary?
Toomey: That's correct.
NRO: What does the future hold for Pat Toomey?
Toomey: I don't know. I really don't know. My wife and I are out on Block Island decompressing. I'm hoping to read a novel. In the next few weeks we'll start thinking about what to do next.
NRO: Any interest in running for governor in 2006?
Toomey: I haven't really given it any thought. Several people have started talking about it, but I just don't have any idea.
It's the same percentage that third Party candidates receive in general elections.
I say that Toomey lost because of that 1-2% of voters of changed their Party affiliation from GOP to independent or third Party, and can't vote in a GOP primary.
I would think someone who just joined THIS week would be a little more patient before getting their panties in a bunch. Of course, if you've been banned and are trying to sneak back in, you're certainly not making any friends here.
As you have been hanging around Free Republic a mere four days and obviously don't know Luis Gonzales, perhaps you should go to his home page and get acquainted with him a little better, maybe check out some of his previous posts as well. He is a well respected member of this forum and nobody appreciates your shooting off your mouth about him. You also might start out with a few manners and stop attacking people personally, which is also forbidden on this forum.
You may not agree with Luis all the time. Not everybody does, including me. But he has my respect and the respect of the others on this forum, unlike you. He is as "good" an American as anybody else posting on this forum.
Did you read the context of my first response? he question was whether Toomey could win as a third party candidate. I responded no, but he could cause Spector to lose. That could happen if Toomey got more votes than the margin by which Spector was to lose, if he did lose, in November. Sabertooth, I know you're smart enough to figure this out.
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LOL Great point Luis. As I said to Nittylion, I refuse to engage in the libertarian game of blaming everyone else. Thanks to your point, I now know why he agreed with me.
Let's see: He couldn't win a majority of only the segment of the electorate that would be his base, so I think common sense would say 'no'.
Second of all, he's endorsed Specter, so why you'd even envision such a scenario is bizarre. Time to move on with life--it's too short.
Ok, now I understand what you're missing. My response to the story was: Toomey could take enough votes from Spector to cause him to lose. My response to NittyLion about not engaging him in his typical libertarian whining was in response to him crying about Bush and Santorum campaigning for Spector. It was not another candidate on the ballot taking votes in the general election. In fact, libertarians never whine about that. It's something they're usually quite proud of the few times it does happen.
Exactly who in this country are they suppose to show this respect to? Someone like YOU?
Come on talk to me about your hang up with ethnic names. How would you feel if your daughter brought home a nice Irish fella named Shaquille O' Neal?
That's a lie, but of course, you already knew that, so there's no use talking to you at any length. You have no credibility. Period.
I think you have enough trouble of your own without butting into another member's discussion with me that he wasn't a party to in the first place.
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