Posted on 01/01/2010 5:31:08 PM PST by MitchellC
Renee Ellmers of Dunn, a nurse at the Trinity Wound Center has recently announced her candidacy for the Second Congressional District in North Carolina. This is the seat currently held by Congressman Bob Etheridge. Ellmers is the second Republican candidate to enter the race. Dan Mansell has already entered the race and has unsuccessfully run against Etheridge in the last two election cycles.
The Sanford Herald alleges that the Republican committee for the Second District is unofficially endorsing Ellmers candidacy over that of Mansell because of his unsuccessful bids against Etheridge already. That’s an understandable strategy, however in Mansell’s defense, he ran during two very bad election cycles for Republican candidates all across the country.
Etheridge has represented the district since 1997, defeating the only Republican to hold the seat in 100 years and he only served one term before losing to Etheridge. Suffice to say, he’ll start off his reelection bid with the upper hand, however he is going to have some music to face from the voters come November. The Cook Partisan Voting Index rates this seat as an R +2, meaning it actually leans slightly Republican. This presents a problem for Etheridge because he has voted with the radical left of his party on every major issue this year: the stimulus, Cap and Trade, and the unpopular health care bill.
Be it Mansell or Ellmers, both of them will have a lot of ammunition to use against Etheridge in the general election and unlike the past couple cycles where the national mood was favoring Etheridge’s party, he is now having to defend several unpopular votes he’s cast in support of a president with sinking approval numbers. The shoe could very well end up on the other foot this time.
Clearly a seat we should be holding. Had it not been for that auto accident involving freshman Rep. Dave Funderburk (where he switched seats with his wife behind the wheel), we’d likely never have lost it.
Is Ellmers a conservative or is Mansell? We really need a conservative who wants the best for our country in Congress rather than another RINO.
I get the sense that she’s conservative. Mansell seems to have been a poor candidate, from what little I saw from him in the last election.
You’re right. I had to ask y’all on the state board who was running, his campaign was so bad.
Funderburk always struck me as sleazy. I never saw an ad for his candidacy. He immediately went negative, and stayed there.
His senatorial campaign against Broyhill taught me about negative advertising. His ads were all “Broyhill: A Mondale democrat.” And he lost that one, BIG TIME.
I think he fashioned himself a Helms protege. I don’t think negative advertising is necessarily a losing proposition, it depends upon how you wage it. But one wonders if Funderburk harmed Broyhill just enough for the ‘86 general election that it enabled Terry Sanford to beat Broyhill by a small margin.
Quite so. They don’t make ‘em like Jesse anymore. He was a giant.
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