Posted on 07/18/2007 7:48:13 AM PDT by Clintonfatigued
RedState endorsed Jim Whitehead went down in flames in Georgia last night. His opponent, Dr. Paul Broun, will head to Washington. Whitehead was heavily backed by the establishment Republicans and Dr. Paul Broun, to put it mildly, is the Kossacks' worst nightmare - military pro-gun, fundamentalist evangelical, hard core states rights, and anti-budget. He said he'd carry a pocket Constitution with him and use the Bible to measure matters on which he'd vote.
Going into the runoff, Whitehead had such a strong lead, in historic Georgia terms, he had over an 88% chance of winning the runoff. The congressional district pitted heavily liberal and large Athens-Clarke County in the west (home of the University of Georgia) with Richmond and Columbia Counties in the east - the real population center of the district. Broun was from the Athens-Clarke area and Whitehead from the Richmond-Columbia area, an area he represented in the State Senate.
That Whitehead imploded is just another amazing spectacle in how Beltway Republicans have lost their ability to run campaigns. Here's what happened.
Read on . . .
(Excerpt) Read more at redstate.com ...
He is a true, honest to God conservative who believes in limiting the the size and scope of the federal government!
Conservatives, if not the Republican Party should be thankful that Broun won.
I am!
For three weeks, Paul Broun went into Whitehead's base territory with youthful door to door volunteers targeting Christian households and hard core conservative voters. For three weeks, Jim Whitehead did not knock on doors.
Sounds like the right guy won.
If this election were an anti war leftie winning a vacant dem seat, you wouldn’t need Free Republic to hear the story. MSM would be all over it.
No, Broun and Whitehead both ran as Republicans in a special election that pitted all R, D and L candidates against each other ... they were the two top vote getters and went into the runoff with two Rs against each other.
Beautiful answer.
I’m elated today with Broun’s victory!
That's right! Conservatism wins! ... not "the party"
“Conservatives, if not the Republican Party should be thankful that Broun won.
I am!”
You’re far from alone. There’s quite a bit of cheering on FR this morning.
Good point. I have not heard one word about this in the “news” media. Meanwhile when another lefty Dem takes the seat of Martin Meehan of MA, who resigned, I suppose it will be big headlines. They’ll make it sound like a major Demo gain. Same in CA, with the special election to replace Rep Millender-McDonald, who also died. Or has that already happened?
In the race to succeed Juanita McDonald, the Democratic primary was won by Laura Richardson, who is slightly less liberal than the runner up. That’s probably why we didn’t hear much about it.
I just wish someone from the leadership could explain this to me.
I am happy to see a real conservative win.
One of the things the Republican Party should wake up to if it wants to win elections is that Paul Broun did not shy away from telling people that the closest person currently in the House to him philosophically is Ron Paul.
He does not agree with Paul on Iraq, necessarily, but he is a Ron Paul, limited government conservative.
If the GOP is interested in winning elections, it should pay attention to this race.
Whether Whitehead is a RINO or not is debatable, but he is certainly a country club Republican who is not afraid to spend tax money.
That’s not who the conservative voters are interested in electing.
I find the statement that Broun is the “Kossacks worst nighmare” quite baffling. It strikes me that he would be welcomed by the Christian Cossack’s who peopled the Caucasus.
Kossacks in this context means denizens of the Daily Kos.
LOOK FOR THIS STORY TO BE BLASTED ALL OVER THE MEDIA TO SHOW HOW A STAUNCH CONSERVATIVE WON !!
This comment was posted under the article. It seems that not only were 2 Republicans running, but two conservative Republicans running (Damn, wish we could have that dilemma up here in MI). It seems the establishment sided with the favorite (Whitehead), commandeered his campaign, and effectively blew the race for him.
From the article itself we read:
For three weeks, Paul Broun told the Athens-Clark County area of the district that Jim Whitehead would ignore them. For three weeks, Jim Whitehead did just that.Another comment below the article:
For three weeks, Paul Broun went into Whitehead's base territory with youthful door to door volunteers targeting Christian households and hard core conservative voters. For three weeks, Jim Whitehead did not knock on doors.
Sounds like someone forgot the most important rule to a campaign: make sure your ground game is solid. [Damn straight.]
I think it also shows a disconnect between d.c. consultants and those on the local level - and why its good stick to the people who got the candidate where they are.
We consevatives ought to be cheered by this. We've been down in the dumps for a while now, but our people are out there and they are willing to get involved, fight, and win. The constituency is out there, we just have to mobilize it.
I believe Richardson’s primary opponent was Hispanic. Richardson is black. This is one of those districts which has long been held by blacks but the growing Hispanic population is threatening their hold on it. Looks like the blacks managed to hold on to it this time, but just as there will likely never again be a black (or white) mayor of L.A., blacks will eventually lose this district.
We think our leadership is out of touch, but think about blacks. They’re being displaced faster than anyone by the illegal invasion, yet every single member of the black caucus in Congress is 100% pro-amnesty and pro-open borders. It’ll be interesting to see how Richardson votes once she takes her seat.
Terry Anderson would be a great congressman but the black power structure wouldn’t back him and he’d have no chance running as a Republican.
Agreed.
I'd add to that a bit by stating all accounts, I really don't know how factual, are that Whitehead was no RINO.
Judging by the way they ran this campaign from D.C. instead of locally, that tells me *maybe* he votes the right way but Broun may actually own a conservative philosophy.
That, imo, is a step up if true. Politics change. Polls change. Demographics change. If Broun is a CONSERVATIVE in spirit, that's harder to change. Guess we'll find out when he gets to D.C.
We ought to be cheered and Senator Grahamnesty ought to be scared.
I realize this is a GOP district, but the fact that the Democrat didn’t even make the runoff is also a good sign. I think the amnesty fight, and the general kookiness of the ‘Rat presidential contenders (Hillary, Obama, Elizabeth Edwards’ husband) is firing up the conservative vote.
To put it in context, Whitehead was the candidate of the Country Club Rebublicans. Broun was the candidate of the Social Conservatives. The democrats had already been eliminated.
GA info - ignored by the MSM - Several good summaries above this particular post.
EEvil: can you get this guy on the radio on Saturday?
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