Archive for the 'RNC' Category

Virginia Governor’s Race Update

Sunday, April 19th, 2009

This morning’s Rasmussen Report polling says that Republicans have reason for optimism. Here’s what they’re reporting:

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state finds the closest race is between McDonnell, the former attorney general and lone GOP candidate, and Brian J. Moran, a former state delegate from Alexandria. McDonnell now leads Moran by 10 points, 44% to 34%.

The highest profile Democrat in the race is next. Terry McAuliffe, a longtime Clinton confidant and former national party chairman, trails McDonnell by 12 points, 45% to 33%. State Delegate R. Creigh Deeds of Bath County continues to fare the worst against his Republican opponent. McDonnell leads Deeds by 15 points, 45% to 30%.

Despite the good early news, there’s still alot of work ahead for Mr. McDonnell. Still, this is good news after last fall’s drubbing by then-Candidate Obama.

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Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

I’m With Patrick Ruffini

Monday, March 9th, 2009

Last week, Republicans jumped all over Michael Steele for getting drawn into the artificial Rush controversy. I thought it was a disgusting sight, frankly, because we were attacking a great spokesman for the Republican Party. Granted, he made a mistake but it wasn’t the type of mistake that deserved calls for him to step down as RNC Chairman.

Today, I found Patrick Ruffini’s post on the subject. Here’s the part of Patrick’s post that I most enthusiastically agree with:

Michael Steele made a tactical mistake in getting drawn into this argument, but I still want him to be a successful RNC Chairman. Steele was elected Chairman as a fresh face and a reformer, a basic orientation the Republican Party will need to embrace in 2010. He remains one of the most compelling public faces of the party. If I were a Democrat, I would rejoice if Michael Steele were somehow made less relevant. Moreover, his challenge of the party’s blind support for incumbents, conservatives’ #1 frustration with the RNC, is probably more relevant to his leadership as Chairman than his Rush comments.

AMEN Brother Patrick!!! It’s time we figured out that Michael Steele’s unwillingness to just blindly supporting traitors like Benedict Arlen is exactly the right mindset for the RNC to adopt at the time when that mindset is needed most. It’s time that the GOP became the party who supports people who best embody conservative principles. More importantly, it’s time the GOP morphed into the party that won’t support the Arlen Specter and Linc Chaffee types. (more…)

DNC Chair Kaine’s Shameless Statement

Monday, March 2nd, 2009

Gretawire just posted DNC Chairman Tim Kaine’s statement on the Steele-Rush tempest in a teapot. Calling it a lame statement is giving Gov. Kaine far too much credit. Here’s one of the lamest parts of Gov. Kaine’s statement:

“As Congress works to pass the President’s budget, Republicans need to stop following divisive figures like Rush Limbaugh, stop apologizing to him and put aside the failed politics of the past so we can put our economy back on track, reform our health care system, break our dependence on foreign oil, improve our schools, and lay the foundation for long-term growth in the 21st Century.”

This tempest in a teapot will undoubtedly be used in DNC and candidate fundraising letters. It undoubtedly will get the nutroots to pry into their wallets with great fervor.

This statement’s real purpose, though, is to distract people’s attention from President Obama’s disastrous economic policies. President Obama’s policies are thinning out retirement accounts. President Obama’s policies aren’t solutions.

Since President Obama’s election, the stock market has dropped from 9,717 to today’s low of 6,737, a drop of 2,980 points. That represents a 31 percent drop since then-Sen. Obama was elected. (more…)

Irey Being Courted to Challenge Specter

Friday, February 27th, 2009

Salena Zito just posted this news on her Forty Fourth Estate blog:

Several Republican conservative fundraisers have approached Washington County Commissioner Diana Irey to ask her to consider a primary run against Sen. Arlen Specter.

Sources confirm they have offered to help her raise money.

One strategist said of the close-door meeting the conservative group was particularly impressed that when Irey went up against Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Johnstown, in the 2006 midterm primaries, she was able to raise between $300 to $400K online.

Diana Irey’s biggest problems in 2006 were fundraising in general and PA-12’s willingness to be bought off by John Murtha’s corruption machine. It wasn’t that she didn’t inspire loyalty and it definitely wasn’t that she wasn’t a great campaigner.

She’d be the type of fresh face and conservative voice that private donors, the RNC and the NRSC could rally around. It’s also worth noting that she’s the type of conservative that would play well in Pennsylvania’s T, which is where Republicans have to do well to win.

I haven’t heard that Ms. Irey has agreed to jump into the race but I’ll definitely monitor the situation.

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Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

The End of the Apathy

Monday, February 2nd, 2009

Everybody knows that the GOP has been, to be polite, apathetic the last 2 election cycles. That isn’t news. What’s news is that the apathy appears to be abating. There are several explanations for the GOP’s disappearing apathy. One of the biggest reasons for the GOP’s apathy disappearing is Eric Cantor keeping his House colleagues from voting for the Democrats’ Porkulus bill. Another reason why conservatives aren’t apathetic is due to Michael Steele’s election to be the next chairman of the RNC.

The biggest reason for the apathy vanishing act is because President Obama foolishly picked a fight with Rush Limbaugh. Michelle Malkin has rightfully titled this episode The Rush Revival. Here’s the most astute observation Michelle makes in her NY Post column:

The stimulus bill is a prime example, a collection of pet projects connected by no coherent ideological strategy except spending. Do Democrats really support it because it’s a good bill? Or is it simply because Republicans oppose it? (more…)

Message and Technology, Part III

Sunday, January 4th, 2009

Anything that Patrick Ruffini writes on the subject of using technology to return the GOP to majority party status immediately gets put on my must-reading list. Patrick posted something on the subject yesterday that I didn’t get to think through. I made reading and thinking it through a priority of my Saturday morning.

The starting point of Patrick’s post is Leon Wolf’s post that I also referenced. Further down in Patrick’s post is this nugget of wisdom that needs to be expanded on:

Attacking technology as a way to rebuild the party misses the point in another way. It assumes that technology is just a tool, that it doesn’t change the dynamics of the political process itself. And that it can’t be an instrument in nudging along the kind of change we all want on the issues and ideas front.

Were MoveOn.org and the netroots primarily about technology or ideology? The answer is both. They were instruments for the ideological “reformation” of the party that just happened to use technology. They were both successful because they tied technology to sense of political purpose, direction, and action.

EXACTLY RIGHT!!! This isn’t an either-or question. It’s a rare double-sided truth. One wouldn’t exist without the other. (more…)

Interesting Reading

Friday, November 7th, 2008

This post is a great explanation why the GOP should focus on shoring up the base first. Here’s the part I agree most with:

5) It’s conservatives, not moderates, who contribute the money, work on GOP campaigns, and are generally going to vote Republican, if they vote at all.

Although it’s fine to reach out to moderates, if you go too far and alienate the conservative base, it will hurt your fundraising, leave you without enough campaign volunteers, and may depress turnout amongst your most loyal supporters.

Our ‘alphabets’ fundraising has stunk the last 2 election cycles. That’s because the activists have refused to support candidates that would be as comfortable in the Democratic Party as they’d be in the GOP. The Democrats hire their GOTV machine. The GOP doesn’t. That’s why we need enthusiastic activists. The perfect example of this is in Minnesota’s 2nd District.

John Kline has impeccable conservative credentials. As a result, Rep. Kline’s had a big base of volunteers this campaign season: (more…)

Goodbye Charlie?

Saturday, September 6th, 2008

While it’s doubtful that Charlie Rangel has served his last day as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, it’s entirely possible that he’ll soon be the subject of an ethics investigation. Here’s why:

Representative Charles B. Rangel paid no interest for more than a decade on a mortgage extended to him to buy a villa at a beachfront resort in the Dominican Republic, according to Mr. Rangel’s lawyer and records from the resort.

The loan was given to him by the resort development company, in which Theodore Kheel, a prominent New York labor lawyer, was a principal investor. Mr. Kheel, who has given tens of thousands of dollars to Mr. Rangel’s campaigns over the past decade, had encouraged the congressman to be one of the initial investors in the project.

The loan, which was extended to Mr. Rangel in 1988, was originally to be paid back over seven years at a rate of 10.5 percent. But within two years, interest on the loan was waived for Mr. Rangel and six other early investors because the resort was generating less income than projected, according to a statement released on Friday by Jose Oliva, director of the resort.

(more…)

Amen to That, John

Monday, September 1st, 2008

John Hinderaker’s post on Powerline is today’s must reading. To say that John is upset with the anarchists is understatement. He’s got a right to be. I’ll let John’s words speak for themselves. Here’s what John said:

The first day of the RNC was fun but muted. One group, though, wasn’t deterred from pursuing its agenda by events in the Gulf. The Communist/anarchist/truther/pro-Obama protesters were out in force, committing various crimes and attempting to disrupt the proceedings.
The most shocking events are described by Jim Hoft, who was on a bus that was attacked from above when a group of protesters dropped sand bags on to the top of the bus. This is attempted murder: if the protesters had succeeded in hitting the windshield, a sand bag would have crashed through and killed the driver. The resulting accident would have killed or injured others on the bus. To my knowledge, the left-wingers/would-be murderers were not caught. (more…)

“We’re Still Counting”

Monday, September 1st, 2008

According to ABC’s Brian Ross, the McCain-Palin headquarters couldn’t be happier. Here’s why:

The McCain campaign raised more than $10 million in the two and a half days after Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was named as the vice presidential running mate, bringing the total raised in the month of August to more than $47 million, campaign officials tell ABC News.

The final, official figures are expected to be reported in the next few days, but the amount appears to be a record for the McCain campaign, almost twice as much as it has raised in any other single month.

“We’re still counting,” said campaign spokesman Brian Rogers.

Rush was right. A couple months ago, Rush was talking about the NRCC’s and NRSC’s anemic numbers, as well as McCain’s fundraising numbers. His opinion: When Republicans start acting like Republicans, the money will start flowing in. They did, starting with the House Oil Wars Rebellion. Donations have been improving ever since.

When Sen. McCain picked Gov. Palin, the floodgates flew open. Like Brian Rogers says, “We’re still counting.” That must bring a smile to Sen. McCain’s face. Following his acceptance speech Thursday night, he’ll get a check for $84 million. The good news is that Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin will be doing fundraisers for the RNC, which can spend the money on whichever race they choose.

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Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog