Posted on 11/05/2009 5:20:08 AM PST by Philo1962
Our online activists have been very, very busy. Using Facebook, Twitter, e-mail and cell phones, we've been directing hundreds of thousands of dollars into the Doug Hoffman and Chris Christie campaigns. We've been calling voters, urging them to vote for conservative candidates. Personally, I've been e-mailing a few acquaintances of mine in the Dede Scozzafava campaign, asking them to convince Scozzafava to drop out of the race.
We work behind the scenes, and under the radar. Quietly and effectively, we've been directing support to the conservative candidates in these races.
A few months ago, we were working on behalf of the Jim Tedisco campaign, in a special election in New York's 20th Congressional District. Last November, Democrat Kirstin Gillibrand won with over 60% of the vote in that district. Just five months later, a true conservative lost by less than 0.5% of the vote.
But a loss is still a loss. It was discouraging, and we didn't do very much for months after that.
Then we noticed that John Corzine, the Democratic governor of New Jersey, hasn't had a job approval rating over 40% for more than a year. He keeps raising taxes. Members of his party keep getting arrested for bribery and drug possession. So we pulled out all the stops and devoted ourselves to a powerful effort on behalf of the conservative Republican candidate, Chris Christie.
A friend of mine on another discussion board described the results this way:
Obama made three trips to New Jersey
to campaign for Corzine, who followed
the Obama campaign plan to the letter.
Obama's voice was used for Corzine's
Robocalls. Corzine spent $23 million
of his own money, outspending Christie
by a 3-to-1 margin. He enjoyed all the
advantages of an incumbent. Christie
had a third-party candidate splitting
the conservative vote.
And Corzine lost.
That's change we can believe in.
We decided to stay out of Virginia because McDonnell was going to win without our help, and Christie needed everything we had. As it turns out, conservative GOP candidates made a clean sweep of all statewide offices in Virginia, and they increased their majority in the House of Delegates (in Virginia's state legislature).
About 18 days ago, it looked like Doug Hoffman was really coming on strong in the special election in New York's 23rd Congressional District. The key members of our group had a very heated discussion: do we keep on pouring everything we've got into New Jersey, or do we try to help Hoffman? At that point, it was a difficult decision. We were concerned that if we split our support we could lose both races. Christie was in a difficult race, and he needed everything we could do for him.
That was when I contacted my friends in the Dede Scozzafava campaign. I asked them to convince Dede to drop out of the race and endorse Hoffman. I explained that we were deeply committed in New Jersey and we did not want to split our efforts. I mentioned that Dede hadn't been picked by the voters of the Republican Party in a real primary, but by the country club members who run the party. The party belongs to the rank and file voters, not to its leaders.
I promised that if Dede did all of this, our group would support her for a statewide office in 2010, and I mentioned the New York State comptroller's office. No other Republican had declared any interest in that office, and it was a logical next step in Dede's political career.
I got very little response from them in the 24 hours that followed, and I got back in touch with our people. We made the difficult decision to shift all of our resources into the NY-23 race. It was like Patton taking a 90-degree turn with the Third Army to relieve Bastogne. I started contacting other people on the staffs of prominent Republicans at the national level.
The results were phenomenal. Right away, Sarah Palin endorsed Hoffman. Then Tim Pawlenty (2012 presidential nominee, perhaps) endorsed Hoffman. Dick Armey was on board already. And the money poured in. My friends had already given generously to the Christie campaign and now, they reached deep in their pockets and invested the rent money in Doug Hoffman. I will forever be grateful.
Then Dede dropped out of the race. I thought we had it in the bag. I finally took a deep breath, took half a day off and spent some time with my family. I was still prepared to support Dede next year, in spite of the fact that we didn't get an endorsement of Hoffman from her, and I sent an e-mail to my contacts in her campaign explaining that. Both of those moves were big mistakes (taking half a day off, and promising to support her in spite of her refusal to endorse Hoffman), and I humbly apologize for that. While I was offline and away from the phone, Dede started sneaking around and telling her supporters to switch their support to Owens, the Democratic nominee.
When I got wind of this, I was skeptical about the report. But then she appeared at a campaign event with Owens, loud and proud, and endorsed him in front of God and everybody. I was astonished. Nobody had seen this coming, not even my contacts in her own campaign. Matt Burns, her communications director and one of my contacts in her campaign, immediately sent out an e-mail announcing that he was supporting Hoffman.
During the next 48 hours, we shifted into high gear and made as many calls to voters in the district as we could. We all have "day jobs" and families. In the end, Doug Hoffman lost. But we sent a message to Republican leadership that they'd better stop nominating liberals. And Dede Scozzafava has no future in politics, unless she joins the Democratic Party and is honest about where her allegiances really are. She deserves nothing but our contempt.
I must say that 2010 is going to be a very good year. Keep your powder dry and your bayonets sharp, Minutemen.
Unless we are prepared to look every RNC donor in the eye and tell them about this treachary, WHY should the RNC care?
When the RNC calls asking for donations, cite NY-23 and tell them they aren’t getting a dime until they put their whole weight behind conservative candidates. Money talks louder than words.
You did as much as you could and Dede betrayed a lot of people, including her own staffers. Clearly, it was out of revenge (”hell hath no fury like that of a woman scorned”). Her career as a Republican is thankfully over.
That whole race was a debacle and showed how out of touch the country club GOP dealmakers are from the folks on the ground. They bear the bulk of culpability for losing this seat.
It calls into question the idea that conservatives can bring in an outsider to win (from my understanding.) Also all the media hype about conservatives supporting Hoffman may have been a turnoff for that area.
On the bright side the seat is up in only a year and republicans are almost sure to pick it up then.
I can’t stress this enough. The Republican Party is our party. The conservatives’ party. We need to take it back. This is the year to do it. The third party idea only gets more Democrats elected. They love it.
We need to constantly repeat a very narrowly focused message: keep taxes low, reduce the deficit, balance the budget, stay strong on national defense, and respect the right to keep and bear arms.
I really don’t want to hear about anything else except electing conservatives. Stay out of the other details. It only gets us into unproductive fights. Even the moderates will support a narrow platform like that. Once we take back the House, we can start talking about immigration. Once we take back the Senate and the White House, we can talk about issues like the right to life, and the defense of marriage.
You have not taken it back yet. I don't feel like Republican Party is my party unlike 1993 Clinton's first year. I also see that many ‘conservatives’ have not learned all the lessons of the past. There are many Bush defenders here. Bush, McCain... that kills it for me.
Watch what happens in the next 12 months. This is our party and we’re taking it back. We’d appreciate your help.
Some of you guys don’t even know who I am. In 2004, I was working for the Jack Ryan for Senate campaign. If we had won that one, Obama would still be an obscure state senator in Springfield, Illinois.
Last year, I was working as a freelance writer for Newsmax. Around St. Patrick’s Day, an old article that I had written came to the attention of ABC News. I had reported about Obama attending the hate-filled, race-baiting church of Jeremiah Wright. Before ABC News brought my article to the attention of the whole nation, Obama had won several primaries in a row and seemed unstoppable. But after ABC News started talking about it, it went viral and Obama lost six of the next eight primaries, some by huge margins.
If my article had come to the attention of the nation just two weeks earlier, we wouldn’t even be talking about a President Obama. We’d be talking about a President Someone Else. For a very long time, I’ve been ahead of the curve on where the Republican Party is going, and where it needs to go.
Please join me and the rest of the Tea Party movement. We need all the help we can get.
Good! It's definitely what the party needs. Third party is a last action of desperation . In the NY case too I think things worked out for conservatives. It's just we have to learn lessons.
Corzine, enjoy your change in 2010!
Adios to left wingers in 2010!
The victories in Jersey & VA show that the Dem playbook of blaming Bush for everyhting doesn’t work anymore. Instead, the new Dem playbook shall be “The Taliban Tea Baggers have declare a Jihad against reasonable thinking moderates just like in the NY-23.”
Lets hope so.
"This election was not about Obama.
Obama still has all of his mojo.
You people are wrong. New Jersey
and Virginia mean nothing."
I appreciate you unveiling your legacy. I also appreciate you might appear to be conservative and an ardent pusher of conservative causes, however if you think for one second you’re going to get away with telling us John McCain is conservative, and not a disloyal prick to conservative republicans you’re exposing a MAJOR flaw in your tout!
Ping. If you want off my ping list or if you want to join our group, send me a freepmail.
Thanks Phil. BTTT
I agree. Just look at the history of third parties....Dems love it. I’m with you.
Corzine!
Out of office!
Being seriously talked up as the next CEO of our taxpayer owned Bank of America. All based on his prior street cred!
Talk about pigs wallowing in slops!
OOink! My nose is clean!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.