Lankford seems pretty decent from what I've read about him on the internet. Sounds like a humble honest family man who went from a private sector career as a Christian camp supervisor to Congress in 2011. All his positions and record in office are pretty solid. I'm not getting any vibes that he's the “moderate” candidate in the race or the “establishment” choice, as some freepers allege. It really doesn't' make sense to argue he's the “establishment” because Congressman Tom Cole backed him as his successor, when Shannon got his start working for J.C. Watts and Cole, having their support when he ran for the state house and Speaker. Lankford only won the Congressional primary over Kevin Calvey by 600 votes. The only thing I don't like about him is his red hair. (sorry, redheads) ;-)
>> there is a clear distinction, this should be priority primary for conservatives. <<
Shannon might indeed be THE conservative choice in the primary, and might be a much stronger Senator than Lankford, but I haven't been sold on him yet. I'm not about to jump up and support the guy solely because he's a sitting state house speaker with “star power”, as a bunch of freepers did with Marco Rubio when they crowned him the moment he announced (who they swore up and down was the tea party savior, absolutely 100% rock solid on immigration, and shouldn't be compared to Mel Martinez “just because” they're both popular Republican Hispanics from Florida) Look what happened when they blindly trusted that guy. Yes, it would be great if we had more black conservatives in the Senate, but not if the white conservative in the primary is better on the issues and could be a strongly force in the Senate when it comes to fighting RATs.
Bottom line, Shannon's been in the state legislature since 2007. I'm going to look closely at his RECORD and IF it matches the hype, I'll be on board.
It’s been widely said that Cole is a “mentor” for Lankford.
It’s fairly clear he’s the “establishment” pick like Mayor Kirk Humphries was in 2004. Of course in the long run Humphries wouldn’t have turned out any worse than Coburn.