Saturday, January 23, 2010

To the G0P: Don't crack open the champagne yet

WHILE REPUBLICANS are celebrating their newly-found glory in Massachusetts as Democrats fall on their swords, may I add two cautionary words for the GOP? Tea Party. Throughout the land the adrenalin is flowing for the political upheaval that has taken over the dialogue, for which the traditional Republican soldiers might pause. The Tea Partyers are up and running, like unleashed pit bulls, against the Republican officeholders in the primaries. A brief recap:
In Texas, where its governor, Rick Perry, has talked of secession when it has suited his audience, eleven Republican congressmen are being challenged in the state primary by the TP's. That's not a misprint. E-L-E-V-E-N! As in football.

In Ohio, a TP candidate, State Rep. Seth Morgan, from rural Huber Heights, has declared his candidacy for Ohio Auditor with strong backing from the TPs who refer to him as a "man of principle". Should the folks at the State GOP Headquarters in Columbus risk the enmity of the hard-right conservatives by giving full support to a party-backed candidate? In Ohio's Second congressional district, a seat already held by U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt (a birther and hardly a lib) now comes Libertarian-TP activist, Marc Johnston, who has entered the race that includes Schmidt and several others. The Ohio U.S. Senate race has at least one TP-friendly candidate, Tom Ganley on the Republican side, and at the top of the ticket, gubernatorial candidate John Kasich has appeared at a TP rally or two to assure them that he is one of their brethren.

In Florida, Gov. Charlie Crist has a challenge in his bid for the U.S. Senate from a TP. In New York's 23rd District, the Republican congressional candidate withdrew from a challenge by a TP who was supported by Sarah Palin (in this instance the TP came up empty as the Democrat won.)

In Massachusetts, Illinois and other states, we may see more TP candidates in the mix. ( I was going to mention Michael Steele, the RNC chairman, too, who is fond of the TP's. But nobody takes Steele seriously these days.)

I wouldn't think that GOP regulars (read: the ones back at the club) could comfortably sniff away these challenges. The TP's are now operating on web sites named Patriotic Resistance, Tea Party Nation and FreedomWorks and they don't speak that highly of either party up on Capitol Hill.

Win or lose, any serious primary challenge will only serve to drain money that could be spent against the Democrats in November. And after all, isn't money what politics is all about these days? Well, that and, eh...socialists.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Ohio Republican Party Chairman Kevin DeWine is helping his second cousin Mike by asking David Yost to get out of the Attorney General's race to run for Auditor against Seth Morgan. From there, a more palatable candidate for the ORP will probably get in as the Tea Party candidates (Morgan and Yost) divide the extreme right vote and permit the establishment candidate to get it. All so Mike DeWine can avoid a primary.

Anonymous said...

I need to get in on this one.
What the ORP does when they try to appear neutral in these matters is they say "we stay out of primaries" which of course is bull. They go to the heavy contributors and have them support the candidate that is preferred by the party anyway. Abe you know and I know that is how it is done by both parties and it is still business as usual. Even when you and I disagree to ideologies my hope is that the TP organizers and helpers see right through it.
I remember a long time ago supporting Slovenic and having his sign stolen all the time, why do I think it was stolen so much? Could it be he actually believed what he said when he talked to the crowds and was not so wishy washy as Mike DeWine was/is? I already know for a fact that there will be a lot of the pro gunners both D's & R's that will do their utmost to can DeWine once and for all, kind of hard to support a guy that when you call his office his staff tells you one thing and he votes another and it was quite often. But my gut says they have him in there to pull money away from the Governor and SOS races from the Democrat side. That is how bad they want the Apportionment Board. The Republican Party higher ups are lazy if anything and no longer want to duke it out like "Real Men" anymore it is just the rank and file that has to suffer for not only their laziness but their incompetence as well.

Grumpy Abe said...

To first anonymous: You were on target! Yost got out of the race today to run for auditor. will we have a name for these musical chairs?