Posted on 11/03/2009 12:48:58 PM PST by BGHater
In what could be a nightmare scenario for Republican Party officials, conservative activists are gearing up to challenge leading GOP candidates in more than a dozen key House and Senate races in 2010.
Conservatives and tea party activists had already set their sights on some of the GOP’s top Senate recruits — a list that includes Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida, former Rep. Rob Simmons in Connecticut and Rep. Mark Kirk in Illinois, among others.
But their success in Tuesday’s upstate New York special election, where grass-roots efforts pushed GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava to drop out of the race and helped Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman surge into the lead on the eve of Election Day, has generated more money and enthusiasm than organizers ever imagined.
Activists predict a wave that could roll from California to Kentucky to New Hampshire and that could leave even some GOP incumbents — Utah Sen. Bob Bennett is one — facing unexpectedly fierce challenges from their right flank.
“I would say it’s the tip of the spear,” said Dick Armey, the former GOP House majority leader who now serves as chairman of FreedomWorks, an organization that has been closely aligned with the tea party movement. “We are the biggest source of energy in American politics today.”
“What you’re going to see,” said Armey, “is moderates and conservatives across the country in primaries.”
These high-stakes primaries, pitting the activist wing of the party against the establishment wing, stand to have a profound impact on the 2010 election landscape since they will create significant problems for moderate candidates recruited by the national party precisely because they appear well-suited to win in places that are not easily — or even plausibly — won by conservative candidates.
The tensions between the two visions threaten to limit the party’s gains in an election year that is shaping up in its favor.
Party strategists worry that well-funded, well-organized challenges from the right could force Republicans to exhaust precious resources on messy primary fights — or force moderate candidates to adopt more strident positions early on that could haunt them during the final months of the campaign.
“For me, what this says is, we need to take a deep breath and decide whether [moderates and conservatives] work together or not,” said Tom Davis, the former chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. “And if we don’t, it can get very, very ugly.”
Activists contend that the only way back to majority status is to embrace the conservative principles that the party jettisoned during the past decades once it became too enamored of power. To them, the issue is less about ideological purity than about the compromises they see the party’s Washington establishment making and what they contend is a lack of support for conservative candidates who are deemed unelectable by GOP solons.
“New York 23, on some scale, is the first battle of a larger internal Republican debate over how to define the party,” said former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, a conservative who is challenging Crist for the Senate nomination. “They want us to vote for their candidates, but they don’t want us to run for office.”
Rubio’s race is one that many on the right point to as the next New York 23, a contest where conservatives and tea party activists are in open revolt about Crist and the national party’s decision to endorse him despite his embrace — literally — of President Barack Obama and his stimulus package during a Florida visit in February.
Rubio has won nearly a dozen county GOP straw polls across the state and is rapidly becoming a darling of the tea party movement.
Everett Wilkinson, an organizer for the Florida Tea Party Patriots, said his group plans to take part in get-out-the-vote activities and other efforts to deny Crist the GOP nomination, despite the fact that Crist leads both Rubio and Rep. Kendrick Meek, the likely Democratic nominee, by a comfortable margin.
To Wilkinson, he’d rather burn the house down if it means saving it.
“We would lose if Charlie Crist got elected or if another person who doesn’t support our policies got elected,” he said. “Our members are actively going to get out there and create awareness of the governor’s actions.”
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), a leading conservative who has endorsed Rubio, said he viewed the Florida Senate race as distinct from the New York special election. But he agreed with Rubio’s contention that the national party needed to broaden its outlook on candidates.
“I’m not saying our party made a mistake, because there’s a debate within the party over what we should be,” he said. “If we just start looking at who can win — sometimes we might miss a gem in the rough in effect. And I said from the beginning, that’s what I think Rubio is.”
Florida turns out to be one of many states where Senate candidates favored — in one way or another — by the National Republican Senatorial Committee are facing serious pushback from the grass roots.
In almost every situation, the lay of the land is the same. Whether it’s California, Illinois, Connecticut, New Hampshire or Kentucky, the NRSC has found a candidate who appears to be an exceptionally strong general election prospect — either well-known, well-financed or ideologically well-suited to the state’s politics — who is nevertheless meeting with tough resistance at the grass-roots level from activists who believe the conservative cause would be better served over the long term, even if it means the party nominee loses in the short term.
Even in Illinois, where polls shows Kirk would be highly competitive as a general election candidate in a state in which Republicans have been crushed in recent elections, the prospect of picking up the president’s former Senate seat isn’t enough to win over many activists.
“We’re going to work hard as hell to make sure Mark Kirk doesn’t win,” said Evert Evertsen, an Illinois tea party organizer. “Mark Kirk is about as liberal as Arlen Specter was.”
GOP House and Senate incumbents are fair game, too.
In Utah, where Bennett has won reelection by landslide margins since first winning the seat in 1992, disgruntled conservatives are looking to take him down in next year’s state party convention after his Wall Street bailout vote last fall and several other high-profile votes in which he broke with the right.
In the House, Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) is among a handful of GOP veterans facing primary challenges of varying competitiveness for their departures from conservative orthodoxy.
“It’s kind of like investors in a company saying they’re not going to tolerate it anymore. And that’s what we’re seeing here,” said Eric Odom, executive director of the American Liberty Alliance, a libertarian-oriented group. “We’re already gearing up. This is just the beginning.”
Isn’t it interesting that the people squawking the loudest about ‘the loss of the Republican Big Tent’ - are Democrats...
Just sayin’....
I see it as a good chance for an incumbent to defend their positions in a spirited primary. Let the person with the most legal votes win.
What the party leadership does not understand is that the voters want a clear choice .... not a choice between lib and lib lite.
Only a dozen? Surely we can do better than this.
In New York, the party officials' choice of Scozzafava (Scuzzbag for short) is an excellent example of why the people won't follow them any longer.
It’s early!
Only by making them suffer will they return to core conservative values. Now is the time for us to strike and make our presence known. If not, they'll simply retire to their country clubs and laugh at us little people as they rake in the bucks and thwart our will.
I say screw the GOP, and I am unanimous in that.
Let’s pick our battles wisely.
One New York race does not make a movement.
What, no mention of John McCain?
Mark Kirk...a DIABLO? Who woulda thunk?!
Need I say this again????
THERE IS NO - REPEAT NO - THIRD PARTY; MUCH LESS A CONSERVATIVE PARTY!!!!!!!
Why is this so hard for all of you to understand. You're all about running away from the libs (Duhhhhhhhhhhhhh!) and all about running away from the cowardly, leaderless rinos (Duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!)....but you have nowhere to run TO!
Where is the leader of the new Conservative Party...when will they surface....when will they lead?? And....will you follow with your pocketbook and vote?
No, you're right.
It only marks the START of a movement!
Purge the RINOs!
Mark Kirk?? PLEASE!!! The guys is being hailed by Chicago media as somewhere to the right of Atilla the Hun, yet he’s a “big tent” liberal RINO who voted for Cap and Tax. FAIL!
Give those of us trapped in blue state IL, where the last two governors have been indicted and our senators are a Dirtbag and a buffoon, an honest Conservative we can be proud to vote for!
Let’s Roll....
Everyone take a deep breath, and repeat after me:
“We shall support the most conservative candidate who can win.”
There. That’s better.
We can be as conservative and orthodox as we wish as individuals, and promote our causes as vociferously as possible.
But we must WIN. Which means, on occassion, that a mushy moderate GOPer is the only thing we could possibly get. We should hold our noses, grind our axes, and help that guy get elected.
Liberal Rs should be run out of town on a rail, a la Scuzzy. Here in Oregon, however, our formerly barely Republican Senator Smith couldn’t defeat a really Liberal douche bag. No conservative is going to win this state (though I wish otherwise). We’ll need to find candidates who are moderate to conservative, and exceptionally sexy (politically speaking). Then, we’ll hold our noses, work like heck, and defeat the douche bag.
I see New Hampshire mentioned here. I hope that no one is calling Kelly Ayotte a RINO or liberal, because she is not. She’s a strong 2nd Amendment conservative.
If she has National Republican Senatorial Committee approval, it is well deserved (and not in a RINO way).
YES...what YOU said!
LOLOL!!! I liked that movie. Kinda whiny,but not bad.
if the conservative is unelectable,and the conservative won’t vote for the rino then the rino too is unelectable.
Some thoughts:
1. Isn’t it illegal to poach Rinos?
2. If this keeps up, will Rinos be put on the endangered species list?
It is very clear you are running away from - or at least threatening to run away from - our dear spineless, leaderless, meallymouthed, rinos.
Now....pray tell....exactly WHERE are you running to? A Conservative Third Party? Wonderful!!!
OH....wait! THERE IS NO CONSERVATIVE THIRD PARTY!!!!!
It’s funny that I don’t remember these stories when the Dems tried to torpedo Joe Lieberman....
hh
The GOP has told us to not leave and form a third party, stay in the GOP and work to have your beliefs part of the mainstream “big tent”.
Just doing as they asked. Why would that present a problem to the leadership they say they support our views.
lol. Aren’t we getting one tonight if Christie wins? I mean he is pretty dang close. I love for conservatives to win but Christie is not what we had in mind. How do you suppose you can say a statement such as NO RINOS when we don’t have the principles to live by that. I am very serious about this...it is almost like we are all talk or that we only say this when it is convenient. I am sure I will be blasted for this but if you think deep down, you know I am right.
Maybe a “nightmare” for some Republican “officials”.....but a dream come true for the majority of Republicans.
I on the other hand worry that Dems are failing our heritage and Constitution by being the Big Teat Party.
Now...what are you FOR?? We know what you're running from...what are you running toward?
If the RNC had half a brain they would NEVER let Tom Davis anywhere near the candidate vetting process!
His RINO record is worthy of a “one way” safari to another
dimension.
Actually, that pic isn’t of Paul Gleason as Principal Richard “Dick” Vernon in “The Breakfast Club”, but when he reprised the role (and that scene in the library) in the spoof film “Not Another Teen Movie” 16 years later.
Strictly self-inflicted - ignore us at your peril or listen to 'we the people' and there will be no 'nightmare scenario'.
Here is a table that list all House Republicans and their votes on 4 key issues.
1. TARP Bill
2. Auto Bail-out
3. Cap & Trade
4. FDA Food Takeover
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2375957/posts
See post #6
ANY Congressman who voted for Cap & Trade MUST be REMOVED. They are either Traitors or they are simply too stupid to serve in Congress.
yeah, and the Democrats are going to get a string of stiff primary challenges from DUmmy activists on their left flank, so this will all shake out as it should....with moderates ending up like so much roadkill on the yellow line.
In my district the 06 democrat loser is challenging the 06 GOP winner for the GOP nomination.
Politicians (and leftists) don't like voters to have a clear choice. And frankly, some voters don't LIKE having to make a clear choice. They like the mushy "can't we all get along" politician who tries not to offend anyone by having a clear discernable ideology.
This is, BTW, what Sarah Palin did up here in Alaska. She ran against the Republican establishment and established her own coalition. Even if those Outside (our term for the Lower 48) manage to somehow marginalize her, her tactics still work. Speaking personally, I haven’t felt represented by either party in years. The Dems are the Marxists; the GOP are Fabian Socialists. A conservative party would have my support.
"Everett Wilkinson, an organizer for the Florida Tea Party Patriots, said his group plans to take part in get-out-the-vote activities and other efforts to deny Crist the GOP nomination, despite the fact that Crist leads both Rubio and Rep. Kendrick Meek, the likely Democratic nominee, by a comfortable margin."
And, next year, Floridians will have a top-notch and truly conservative congressional candidate in Lt. Col. Allen West, Ret., (see westforcongress.com). When he begins getting his message out nationally, the National Party will have to take notice.
Nope. No way. No more "electable" compromise candidates just because he or she has an 'R' after their name. Either they are Conservative or they or not. And I don't care if the party loses because of it. No more RINOs period.
Excellent...
Dick Armey BUMP. Conservative to the end (unlike Newtie, who can change views as often as he changes ties).
NO JUANnabies either!
One of the biggest things Republicans have done is allow Democrats to paint conservatives as radicals. Now is the time for the Republicans to identify where the real extremists lie: on the left in the Democratic Party. We now have visual aids to prove it: Obama, Pelosi, Reed, Frank, Van Jones, Valerie Jarrett, Cass Sunstein . . . .
Republicans need conservatives or they DON’T HAVE A PARTY. RINO’s need to move over, admit defeat, and allow conservatives to regain power in the party. Most importantly, conservatives need to remind voters over and over and over again that the Democrats repeatedly lied to them about being moderate.
Finally, if Republican party elite can admit the truth and invite the conservatives back to the table, Republicans need to carve their well stated values and platform just right of center. If done properly, and if Republicans will adhere to their STATED principles, they should regain control for a long time.
The “compassionate conservatism” of W and the so called McCainiac Moderates have all but wrecked the party. We conservatives are not going to forget that, just like the voters in this country are not going to forget that the Democrats have perpetrated a total fraud on the electorate. . . at least if we behave ourselves in power and remind the public what was done to them.
“Uncivil War: Conservatives to challenge a dozen GOP candidates”
Uncivil?? When conservatives express a preference for candidates that reflect their views the media is shocked and dismayed. How dare the lemmings refuse to follow the Rinos off the cliff!
What would they have us do, vote for those we dont believe in? This is ridiculous.
WHAT YOU SAID!
No more "best we can do" crap; it's TOO LATE FOR THAT.
We gotta go all-in with ONLY those who are in support of the Constitution as it was written and intended, and no more of the "big tent" bullshit.
There ain't NO WAY that the entitlements-dependent base of the socialists' voters will EVER vote for anything or anybody that DOESN'T GIVE THEM SOMETHING FOR NOTHING, as that's how they've been living for 4 generations.
We need candidates that will force people to be responsible, accountable, God-fearing Americans who work for a living and are proud of their efforts.
This is only a “nightmare” to the left, as it is a sign that the American people are beginning to awaken both to the thuggery of the left and to the betrayal of the nation and the public by RINOs.
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