Posted on 02/08/2007 1:49:38 PM PST by GulfBreeze
California Congressman Duncan Hunter announced in October that he would be seeking the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. He recently made his candidacy official. Now in his 14th term in the House, Hunter's district includes portions of San Diego. From 2003 through 2006, he was chairman of the powerful House Armed Services Committee, a role he had to relinquish in January due to the Democratic takeover of the House.
Hunter prides himself on being in the mold and tradition of Ronald Reagan, who was first elected President the same year Hunter was first elected to Congress. Although many believe he came in on Reagan's coattails (pulling an upset victory over an incumbent Democrat by a narrow margin), he has won reelection by wide margins ever since. In addition, he continues to be popular with ''Reagan Democrats," consistently getting over 70% of the total Democratic vote.
Hunter is a socially conservative Baptist who is very popular with evangelicals and the far right. He strongly opposes abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and gay marriage. In addition, he favors a crackdown on illegal immigration and the construction of a fence along the entire border between the U.S. and Mexico. In spite of this, he usually draws around 60% of the Hispanic vote in his district. His continued unwavering support of the war in Iraq also makes him popular with neoconservatives.
He will likely have to compete with Mitt Romney, Sam Brownback, Mike Huckabee, and Tom Tancredo for social conservative votes in the primaries. In order to be successful, he will need to convince voters in Iowa and New Hampshire that he is the most genuine and most viable social conservative in the race. So far, he is the only Republican candidate who has purchased TV time in New Hampshire. This is obviously an attempt to build up some early name recognition, of which he currently has little or none.
Although a tremendous long-shot, there is a scenario in which he could conceivably win the nomination. He would first have to come out of Iowa and New Hampshire as the leading or possibly only social conservative still in the race. At a minimum, he would need to put Huckabee away in those two early states. Otherwise, the former Arkansas Governor would likely lock him out of the southern conservative vote, effectively ending his candidacy when the southern block of primaries is held. However, with Huckabee gone and Hunter the top social conservative contender remaining in the pack, he would be poised to perform well in the South, as well as his native West. Winning the South is obviously part of Hunter's required scenario for capturing the nomination. It was no accident that he made his official announcement in South Carolina.
I Ping a very short list. If anyone wants to be added to the Duncan Hunter Ping list please Freep Mail ANTONINUS
If you are a Freeper supporting Duncan Hunter please make your voice heard in this poll!!!
http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/poll?poll=170
And don't forget to volunteer and donate...www.GoHunter08.com
Is it better to have a conservative convert to liberalism, like Hillary?
BUMP
He's my choice... and I hope you're right!
Since announcing his candidacy in October 2006, Hunter has advanced how far?
In my humble opinion, we need a true conservative president now maybe more than ever before; Bush has not fit the bill and so far, the top GOP candidates are woefully lacking.
Moreover, there are a lot of different positions that many of the candidates have yet to take a stance on one way or the other. For example, there are 2nd Amendment issues. Hunter is "near perfect" there. A Balanced Budget Amendment? He supports it. What sort of judges would candidates appoint to the bench? Hunter would prefer someone like Scalia. Pardoning Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean? Hunter thinks that is the right thing to do. School vouchers, the missile defense shield, a 2/3 majority in Congress to raise taxes? Hunter is in favor of all of them.
The entire story HERE
All the way...
What's your point? What difference does that make?
He is the right guy for the job. He is the BEST pick. If he doesn't win the nomination, I support whoever does.
Why would you worry about that until after the primary is over?
"Since announcing his candidacy in October 2006, Hunter has advanced how far?"
Second place in the FR poll.
Well I'll repost this I just posted in the thread on that Cox guy since it's more relevant to Hunter - I've been doing some reading on previous Presidential nomination races:
1) The modern Presidential Campaign era began in 1976 - that's when primaries and conventions began to be organized in somewhat the form they are now.
2) The most obscure candidate ever to win a nomination in that system was Jimmy Carter - as weird as it sounds, Duncan Hunter or any other no-hoper has to measure themselves against Carter.
3) Carter was indeed polling 1-2% the same time (a year previous) prior to the 1976 primaries as now. Note that this is still more than Hunter is.
4) However, Carter was, at least, a State Governor.
5)1976 was a rather unique situation coming off of Watergate in who people were looking for in a President.
6) The nomination system in 1976 was brand new - Carter won the nomination because his campaign staff figured out how the system "worked" before the other candidates. Before 1976 New Hampshire didn't have the vast importance it does today - some candidates in 1976 even skipped New Hampshire. Also, Carter declared his candidacy in 1974, and was unemployed at the time - Carter BEGAN the whole process of declaring candidacies well ahead of time - some candidates in 1976 didn't declare till two months before the primaries.
7) Carter wasn't selling himself to his parties' left-wing base - he was positioning himself as a moderate.
8) Since 1976 we've seen the primaries being front-loaded a LOT more than they were in Carter's time. Carter won Iowa Caucus and the NH primary and was able to build momentum.
The evidence suggests that anyone outside of Giuliani/McCain/Romney has essentially no chance.
| Member Opinion | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Duncan Hunter | 26.2% |  |
865 |
| Newt Gingrich | 26.0% | |
861 |
| Rudy Giuliani | 14.1% | |
465 |
| Tom Tancredo | 10.4% | |
345 |
| Undecided/pass | 8.4% | |
278 |
| Mitt Romney | 7.9% | |
262 |
| Ron Paul | 5.4% | |
180 |
| John McCain | 1.5% | |
50 |
| 99.9% | 3,306 | ||
I don't think any of the so called front runners can win. The GOP better take a good long look at themselves and stop trying to blame people for not voting for them. Then they can give us reasons to vote for them and I don't mean the tired old "you'll elect Hillary" mantra.
Since when have we been a truely free trade nation?
"In addition, he favors a crackdown on illegal immigration and the construction of a fence along the entire border between the U.S. and Mexico. In spite of this, he usually draws around 60% of the Hispanic vote in his district."
Perhaps it's BECAUSE of this. Perhaps Hispanic American citizens don't like to see people breaking our laws anymore than other American citizens.
I knew that he was said to be pro 2A--but had never seen confirmation of it.
BINGO!!!
"And first among "Member" votes."
There is no resemblance between FR polls and the general voting public or the Republican party.
No resemblance. It means absolutely nothing, once you take your fingers off the keyboard and return to the real world.
No, it's better to have a conservative who wasn't previously deluded.
Thanks for your input. I suppose one way or another I'll just get with you after the primary...
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