Mourdock is a very good candidate and has a strong chance to win. Sure, there is a risk that has to be weighed. If Mourdock were a terrible candidate that would almost certainly lose than it wouldn't have been worth running him instead of RINO Lugar. As is, we have a solid chance to win and wind up a terrific conservative. Akin, on the other hand, is now a terrible candidate with very little chance to win. Worse, he hurts other Republicans up and down ballot in his state. Akin embarrassed the party so badly he manages to hurt Republicans in OTHER states too.
heard the same blather about putting Mike Castle in the Senate rather than have Christine O'Donnell run.
Nominating Christine O' Donnell was a mistake. She was a joke candidate and lost by roughly the margin every political realist knew she would (17 points). Castle is a RINO crapweasel, but this is a case where the trade off wasn't worth it. Nominating her guaranteed a loss. Castle would have been better in that particular case.
There is a calculation to made in each case. Akin won his nomination with the backing of the Huckabee wing of the party (and money from McCaskill and the Democrat Party). No one tried to remove him until he blew up his own campaign. The GOP was going to pour millions in the race on his behalf. Conservative SuperPAC's had ad buys ready. Akin was going to get a ton of support. He said something so woefully stupid that anyone that isn't political tonedeaf realized they had to distance themselves from him. It's long past time for Akin to put his ego aside and get out of the race. Surely there are other equally pro-life candidates that can step in and win this seat.
You are missing the point--maybe intentionally. You posit that winning is the single most important criterion. Lugar is a sure winner, Mourdock is not. Yet, you are willing to take a chance on Mourdock. My question to you is should Mourdock have been discouraged from running so as not to put the seat at risk?
Nominating Christine O' Donnell was a mistake. She was a joke candidate and lost by roughly the margin every political realist knew she would (17 points). Castle is a RINO crapweasel, but this is a case where the trade off wasn't worth it. Nominating her guaranteed a loss. Castle would have been better in that particular case.
This is where we have a profound disagreement. Christine O'Donnell beat Castle in the primary. She was the nominee of the party. I prefer a loss to putting into office a Mike Castle, Arlen Specter, or Jim Jeffords with an R after their name. Romnald Reagan said,
“A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency, or simply to swell its numbers. I do not believe I have proposed anything that is contrary to what has been considered Republican principle. It is at the same time the very basis of conservatism. It is time to reassert that principle and raise it to full view. And if there are those who cannot subscribe to these principles, then let them go their way.”
The more the GOP dilutes its brand, the greater the possibility of a third party that will break away from the GOP. More than likely, that group will be conservatives.
“Nominating Christine O’ Donnell was a mistake. She was a joke candidate and lost by roughly the margin every political realist knew she would (17 points). Castle is a RINO crapweasel, but this is a case where the trade off wasn’t worth it. Nominating her guaranteed a loss. Castle would have been better in that particular case.”
I agree. I was no fan of Castle. Not a bit. But he would have voted with the GOP at least 1/2 of the time. The Dem candidate? Well, his current voting record pretty much speaks for itself.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could clone Jim DeMint’s and Tom Coburn’s and run ‘em in all 50 states? Wouldn’t it be nice if they’d each win their elections with 65% of the vote? I’d love it.
But it ain’t gonna happen.
So we settle for less than what we wanted. It’s sucks sometimes - but that’s life. NO ONE gets what they want all of the time. The people out there who say point at themselves and say “I’m principled” - are in many cases, not. They’re spoiled brats.
The bottom line in the Senate? 51 votes. And right now,