Posted on 06/17/2013 8:43:02 AM PDT by george76
Republicans have talked about pursuing a different kind of candidate since what seems like forever. Heck, the national party even convened a special, secret task force just for that purpose late last year, after losing key demographic groups such as women and Hispanics.
Yet, given exactly the kind of candidate they hire people to find out in the hinterlands, Republicans are oddly not engaged with helping him cross the finish line in a special election that would significantly stun Democrats.
Gabriel Gomez is a Massachusetts Republican running to fill John Kerry's vacated U.S. Senate seat; the 47-year-old political newcomer is within striking distance of wounding Democrats right where it hurts.
Gomez, a first-generation American whose parents came here from Colombia, has a compelling life story that includes an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy and service as a Navy SEAL and fighter pilot. He is Roman Catholic, personally pro-life; fluent in Spanish; a father of four who met his wife when he was deployed as a SEAL in Grenada, where she was a Peace Corps volunteer.
His opponent, Congressman Ed Markey
...
Democrats know they have a problem; privately, they worry about Markey's long, unremarkable Washington career. So they have called in the two best reinforcements they could think of: outside money and some speechifying by Barack Obama.
Meanwhile, on the Republican side, crickets — meaning silence.
(Excerpt) Read more at triblive.com ...
At least Gomez is pro-life. Markey is pro-abortion. So you will be helping the pro-abortion politician. Thanks for nothing.
Weird piece..
Who on earth cares which liberal Democrat, Markey or Gomez, wins this ludicrous race?
Frankly, I think it would be preferrable to be punched in the face by Markey rather than stabbed in the back by Gomez.
“At least Gomez is pro-life.”
Yeah, sure he is:
http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/06/senate_candidate_gabriel_gomez_3.html
People like you are why we are where we are today.
Helping the pro-abort politician how?
At best he sounds muddled on the issue.
Will the GOP be “stunned” by the lack of support from its base? The GOP is its own worst enemy. The Big Tent is now a three-ring circus.
Have you seen where Gomez stands on the issues ? Today he was complaing the GOP was against global warming. He’s for amnesty. He’s a total fraud.
I realize Gomez is no flaming conservative, but don't think Gomez will vote to kill babies from the womb who can survive outside the womb on their own. Markey will.
In 1962, the MA people got to choose between liberal George Lodge super-liberal EMK. Guess who they wanted?
Massachusetts hasn’t been given a (real) choice in my memory (over 30 Years). The one time the people there were faked out into thinking they actually had an opportunity to vote for a conservative, they elected Scott Brown. Brown, of course, threw those voters under the bus to try to win the favor of the Boston Globe and that was the end of Scott Brown.
You understand, there is no real GOP in Massachusetts any more than there is a real GOP in, say, Philadelphia? The people controlling the machinery make sure it stays that way.
Please go away with this foolishness. The only “stunning†thing will be if the Republican breaks 20%. The comrades in Massachusetts know they messed up by not showing up to defeat Brown. They showed that by electing Fauxahontas. Now they will OVERWHELMINGLY elect Markey.
He ain't a "different kind of candidate". He's a liberal RINO who's never held office before. Those are not close to rare.
I'd vote for him if I lived there but clearly no one is motivated, and why should they be? Brown didn't turn out all that great but he was able to capture the voters attention, this guy can't. I'm not sure if anything can be done at this point. What does the author of this piece want? Pom poms? For this liberal?
I just hope we come up with a better candidate in the race that really matters, the one in 2014 for the full 6 year term. If we don't then that loser Markey will be there a long time.
How so? Brown voted the way the people who voted for him wanted. The problem was that a lot of Democrats who stayed home in 2010 came out to vote in 2012.
It's not like there was some vast constituency of conservative voters in Massachusetts who felt disappointed by Brown and stayed home or voted against him. The people who voted for him knew more or less who they were getting and weren't bothered by that.
You understand, there is no real GOP in Massachusetts any more than there is a real GOP in, say, Philadelphia?
I guess not, but why assume there are a lot of "real GOP" voters there?
The point is, it would be an interesting exercise to find out if there are conservatives in Massachusetts by fielding a conservative candidate. For once. There's certainly nothing to lose.
Over 60% for Obama both times. Under 40% for McCain and Romney. Not much opportunity there for what would be called a conservative in other states. Probably the bigger problem is just getting the GOP to run any candidates at all for many offices. Some years they don't even spend the money to contest the major state offices, like Attorney General, Treasurer, and Auditor.
So, yes, I guess it would be a nice experiment to run a more conservative candidate every once in a while (or once), but I don't think there's a hidden reservoir of conservative voters in the state who are staying home on election day until then. Ironically, it might be more possible to get a conservative elected on the Democratic ticket then the Republican. Well, not somebody who would be considered a conservative in other states, but there are some "conservative Democrats" in the state who just never vote Republican.
I don't think I've seen anyone on this thread demand that the GOP run a "Ted Cruz type candidate" in Massachusetts. As freeper LongWayHome noted, it was a lot easier for conservatives to get behind Scott Brown because he was against Obamacare & amnesty and would vote with us about 55% of the time. We'll be lucky if Gomez votes with us 25% of the time. He's not as liberal as Markey, but it most states he'd be a flat out Democrat.
I might force myself to vote for him in Massachuttes if only to prevent Markey from winning, but there's no way in hell I could campaign for this guy.
Gomez is "pro-life" the same way Joe Biden is. He's "personally" against abortion but says Roe v. Wade is settled law and the government can do nothing to stop abortion on demand. He's about as useful to the pro-life cause as Lindsey Lohan's courtroom statements are against her drinking and drugging.
Lancey, they field conservative Republican candidates often for US House and state Senate. They tend to get trounced.
If I lived there and somebody forced me to do politics, I would focus on state House races. As if it matters. Of course, I do that in CT and I wonder if it matters.
Gomez aint worth the energy it would take to support him. And he aint worth the energy to oppose him.
Mike Sullivan lost in the GOP primary. MIKE SULLIVAN
YES, X.
The real opportunity here is to help a moderate-conservative DEM win the 6-way primary for Markey’s seat with 25% against those 5 progressive moonbats.
But, so far, no candidate exists.
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