Posted on 10/05/2007 7:45:49 AM PDT by george76
Bentley Rayburn officially launched his campaign Thursday to unseat a fellow Republican, Congressman Doug Lamborn, by touting himself as "best positioned to reunite this party."
Rayburn, who finished third in last year's primary for what was then an open seat, becomes the second challenger in the 2008 race, joining 2006 primary runner-up Jeff Crank. Lamborn has not made his re-election bid official, but he is raising money.
Rayburn, a retired Air Force major general, devoted a good portion of his speech to "the war against radical Islam." He said the ongoing battle is a multi-generational struggle that will not be solved quickly, but the consequences are too grave to back off the fight.
He also reiterated positions from his last run, including his opposition to abortion, support for gun rights and desire for more fiscal conservatism. Rayburn spoke briefly about the need to strengthen the local economy and stop the exodus of high-paying high-tech jobs.
Without mentioning Lamborn by name, Rayburn railed against a lack of leadership and said his 31-year military background has prepared him for that role.
"We don't need another grudge match. We are at a crossroads in our party and in our country,"...
(Excerpt) Read more at rockymountainnews.com ...
Obviously you have some anger issues and don't seem to be interested in a logical or rational discussion. As for me, I'm rather tired of slack-jawed yokels that think nobody outside their burg knows anything of their woes and the PC red herring bullcrap they spew, which is designed to silence folks that want to offer some perspective that is larger than themselves and their area. If you don't think your district matters to others outside of it, you're sadly mistaken, sir. In any event, you have a nice day.
Six way primary races have a habit of producing plurality winners and not majority winners. The fact that Lamborn didn't get Hefley's endorsement, yet still managed to receive almost 60% of the vote in the general election is testament to his staunch conservatism. Jeff Crank brought in the RINO Hugh Hewitt from California, in a futile effort to improve his standing with 5th district voters. Didn't help him one bit. Lamborn still won!
Crank and Rayburn might be able to unseat the flaky Doug Lamborn in a two-candidate contest, but with both running, the anti-Lamborn vote will be hopelessly split. Lamborn is guaranteed another term now.
Pshaw.... 60% is positively awful for a Republican in El Paso County. He got that amount for being a Republican in an overwhelmingly Republican district. By comparison, Joel Hefley routinely got over 70% of the vote in the same CD.
Where did that 12% of the vote go?
LOL! You’re amusing, but not impressive.
The biggest reason Lamborn didn't get a higher vote total, had to do with the Democratic National Committee`s nationwide election strategy for Congressional races in 2006. If you remember correctly, the entire Democratic Party power base made a big effort to find veterans who would appeal to Republicans disenchanted with the war in Iraq. Lamborn faced a Democrat nominee named Jay Fawcett. Fawcett was an Air Force veteran and he appealed to 40% of Springs voters. In case you didn't know, only about 40% of registered voters in El Paso County are Republicans.
60% is still a solid vote total for any Republican. I'd wager a bet that Lamborn's election totals in 2008 will be higher. How much higher? I don't know. And I expect Lamborn's American Conservative Union rating for 2007-2009 term will be right up there with Hefley's lifetime rating of 95.
I smell the evil hand of Dobson in this.Just like the OP ED hit piece by the Focus on the family employees.
Dobson Offers Insight on 2008 Republican Hopefuls
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/070328/28dobson.htm
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