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GOP Reformers Face a Tough Fight
Wall Street Journal ^ | July 18, 2008 | KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL

Posted on 07/18/2008 11:01:41 PM PDT by kc8ukw

The 11th commandment of politics is that elected officials shall not take sides in their party primaries. Then again, Missouri Republicans are burdened with so many sins, what's one more?

For an insight as to why the GOP is down and out in Washington, take a look at Jefferson City. That's where Sarah Steelman, the state treasurer, is running in an Aug. 5 primary for the Missouri governorship. And it's where her reform campaign against earmarks and self-dealing is threatening the entrenched status quo, causing her own party to rise against her.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Missouri
KEYWORDS: 110th; electiongovernor; gop; missouri; reform; reformers; steelman

1 posted on 07/18/2008 11:01:42 PM PDT by kc8ukw
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To: Just another Joe

This editorial is very much about the Missouri governor’s race.


2 posted on 07/18/2008 11:03:00 PM PDT by kc8ukw
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To: kc8ukw

Unfortunately, regardless if it’s Steelman or Hulshof, Nixon may waltz to victory.


3 posted on 07/18/2008 11:51:57 PM PDT by fieldmarshaldj (~"This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps !"~~)
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To: Clintonfatigued

Political PING?


4 posted on 07/19/2008 1:17:48 AM PDT by MplsSteve
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To: kc8ukw; 1stMarylandRegiment; 47carollann; A Citizen Reporter; A Cyrenian; adrian; AFLoggie; ...
Missouri ping

Low volume ping list

FReepmail me to be on, or off, this list.

5 posted on 07/19/2008 11:03:55 AM PDT by Just another Joe (Warning: FReeping can be addictive and helpful to your mental health)
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To: kc8ukw

I’d made up my mind a while back to vote for Steelman. She’s a breath of fresh air in Jeff City. Too bad the Republicans have turned into what they used to attack.


6 posted on 07/19/2008 11:10:59 AM PDT by MissouriConservative (Never pick a fight with an ugly person; they've got nothing to lose.)
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To: kc8ukw

The only piece of campaign literature I’ve received so far has been from Hulshof and nowhere did he mention he was a Republican, which I thought was rather amusing. I’m thinking I’ll be voting for Ms. Steelman.


7 posted on 07/19/2008 11:30:57 AM PDT by LSAggie
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To: kc8ukw

be a good little Republican!

it is NOT about conservatism- it is about party power!

DO NOT INTERFERE!


8 posted on 07/19/2008 11:46:51 AM PDT by eeevil conservative (GIVE ME A PLACE TO STAND AND I WILL MOVE THE EARTH....Archimedes)
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Comment #9 Removed by Moderator

To: Chris DeWeese

The primary is August 5th.


10 posted on 07/19/2008 7:33:07 PM PDT by kc8ukw
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To: eeevil conservative

The MRP is in defense mode ever since the RP sneak attack and they have let their paranoia get the better of them.

Sarah was not the first: they did the same thing to Kinder and Jack Jackson, and they backed down. They should have known better than to get into an argument with a woman ;-)

Conspiracy theories abound, but there is no doubt that there was a concerted effort to raise Hulshof up over any other. Granted the same machine apparently dissuaded Hulshof from running against M Blunt 4 years ago, so he kinda felt he took a bullet and now it was his turn, but Kinder as LG is the natural heir-apparent, so why did ti go this way? For one thing money talks, and Hulshof could not use his congressional funds for a state race (word is he gave it to the MRP). Matt Blunt and Hulshof were NOT friends after the events of 4 years ago, but all of a sudden Hulshof people are working for the governor. State senators and their leadership do have an ax to grind against Steelman, so there goes that support. And to stretch a conspiracy.... if/when Bond retires, A Repub gov pushes the interim appointment (how about R Blunt for US Senate) and next we need a replacement for R Blunt in congress (maybe M Blunt?)

Regardless of how the governor plays out, Hulshof left a solid, safe R seat up for grabs that in todays climate we very well may lose. We are however likely to hold the treasurer with Lager who is an effective campaigner and fiscal hawk (he also lost leadership, while budget chair in the house, because he wouldn’t sign off on spending Jetton wanted).

SO as the next few months play out, we can look forward to a catastrophe or resurrection for the Republican party.


11 posted on 07/19/2008 10:47:05 PM PDT by Optimist (I think I'm beginning to see a pattern here.)
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To: kc8ukw
GOP Reformers Face a Tough Fight

Tough to "reform" a dead body.

12 posted on 07/19/2008 10:56:15 PM PDT by EternalVigilance (The first step into incrementalism is the fist step onto a slippery slope...bye bye GOP...)
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To: PreviouslyA-Lurker

Read later.


13 posted on 07/25/2008 2:34:37 PM PDT by PreviouslyA-Lurker (...where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty... 2 Corinthians 3:16-18)
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To: EternalVigilance
I'm not sure it's dead, but it's on life support.

The problem for me is that no matter how disgusted I may get at the Republicans who represent me in Congress and the White House the Democrat opponents are always far worse. If the average GOP voter would just realize how corrupt the entire system has become and vote out every RINO in the primaries and replace them with people like Mrs Steelman we could have our party back. But I guess most GOP voters just mindlessly vote for the incumbent whose name they vaguely remember without a clue about his/her record in office. I have thought seriously about changing my registration to independent, but then I wouldn't have any voice at all in who is nominated. I suppose I will leave it as it is and at least I can cast my one little vote for the challenger if the incumbent in question is just talking the conservative talk but not walking the walk.

I thought the American people had had their fill of liberals when they elected Reagan by landslides in the 1980s but I now see that I was mistaken. The majority of Americans seem to like socialism light and big spending corrupt politicians, and their support for Reagan was just because of his personality and not his conservatism. No real conservative has been nominated for president by the GOP or elected by the people since Reagan left office, and when we finally got control of Congress in ‘94 the GOP majority soon became almost as worthless as the Democrats had been.

I'm not exaggerating the seriousness of the situation when I say that I believe the best days of the US are over and done with, and we're on a downhill slide into a European type socialist state from here on. Someone once said that democracy works only until the people discover that they can vote themselves money out of the treasury. And although it took a century and a half for the American people to discover that, they know it now and there's no hope of changing their mind until the treasury is empty and the government's paper money is worthless. The US treasury has been empty for decades, and the US paper dollar is losing value every hour of every day that passes.

14 posted on 07/31/2008 6:23:16 AM PDT by epow ("My God is the Great I Am, not the Great I Was")
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