Posted on 06/24/2014 10:53:20 PM PDT by bd476
Politico
By ANNA PALMER | 6/25/14 12:24 AM EDT
HATTIESBURG, MISS. — A defiant Chris McDaniel walked up to the podium at his election night headquarters here after the Republican runoff was called for his opponent Sen. Thad Cochran — and then he didn't concede.
"We had a dream and the dream is still with us," said McDaniel to an increasingly vocal crowd, telling them that the fight is not over. "Today the conservative movement took a backseat to liberal Democrats in Mississippi."
Cochran's strategy Tuesday was to expand the electorate by ginning up votes from voters who don’t typically participate in Republican primaries, including blacks and Democrats. Mississippi voting rules allow anyone to participate in a primary.
(Full primary election results here)
But the tea party-backed McDaniel camp cried foul, sending in poll monitors and questioning the final outcome of the race.
More than 200 supporters gathered in the Hattiesburg Lake Terrace Convention Center were just as angry at the loss to Cochran that virtually assures the 76-year-old an easy win toward a seventh term in the general election.
They cheered his defiance and chanted “Write Chris In!” as he took the stage and calling out “It’s not over Chris” and “We’re not going with Thad.”
McDaniel supporters quickly moved to consider legal challenges based on reported voting irregularities.
Senate Conservatives Fund’s Ken Cuccinelli hung up on a POLITICO reporter when asked if they would consider challenging the result in court.
McDaniel said that Republicans must find their “backbone again” and called out irregularities at polling operations.
Cochran’s win was a major victory for the GOP Republican establishment that included heavy investment by the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
McDaniel had tried to position Cochran as a Washington insider with a history of pork barrel projects. His loss was the second major tea party defeat of the evening. Rep. James Lankford bested primary opponent T.W. Shannon in the Oklahoma Senate GOP primary.
It’s a major loss for national tea party groups, who had hoped to capitalize on Dave Brat’s upset in Virginia to defeat House Majority Leader Eric Cantor earlier this month. FreedomWorks put an aggressive ground game together holding rallies and blanketing the state with yard signs. Club for Growth also put in financial resources during the run-off for an ad buy.
Despite playing Pharrell’s “Get Lucky” over the loud speaker system as McDaniel closed the gap within a few thousand votes wasn’t enough to put the tea party favorite over the top.
The mood quickly soured as word that Cochran had bested McDaniel in the run-off. Some hugged, others shook their heads while yet others headed for the exits before McDaniel even took the stage to address the crowd.
What had started as a confident evening with McDaniel supporters predicting a victory quickly turned into a vent session over dirty politics.
“This is such a perverting of a fair election system that we are outraged the Secretary of State hasn’t stepped in,” said Ray Nicholson, the founding and past chairman of the Mississippi Tea Party. “I think it is going to badly hurt the Republican party in Mississippi.”
Barry Neyrey, chairman of the South Mississippi Tea Party on the Gulf Coast, blamed Cochran’s move to try and expand the electorate and increase Democratic turnout in the primary is “dirty politics.”
“That is corruption, that is Washington corruption on full display and that is what Chris McDaniel was trying to fight, is trying to fight against, the corruption of Washington,” Neyrey said.
The political activist said McDaniel’s loss is making him rethink his involvement.
“It makes you want to quit being involved. I never believed a third party would work, maybe that’s the only way to get rid of the corruption of Washington, the corruption of the Democratic party, the corruption of the Republican party,” Neyrey said. “These people do not exist to serve the public, they exist to serve themselves and each other.”
—Alex Burns contributed to this report.
.....Or simply just believe in God again!
Mississippi has a sore loser law.
Can't. Mississippi has a sore loser law.
Prove it by citing the sources. Thank-you!
Mississippi has a sore loser law.
Prove it by citing the sources. Thank-you!
McDaniel can run as a happy loser because he knows he can win. Problem solved. Fixed it.
This will turn our to be a Pyrrhic victory for them. I hope McDaniel does run as an independent, but only if he wins.
We’re up against billions of dollars of insider money and they’ll do anything to keep the gravy train rolling. How about pushing for closed primary elections as our first reform. This wouldn’t have happened, but for that. So who benefits from open primaries? The GOPe.
Apparently there is a pretty large discrepancy in the voter numbers and if I were McDaniel, I too would contest that election. I smell a big rat in the outcome of that one.
A sore loser law may prevent McDaniels from going any further, but it doesn’t preclude another Conservative from running in the general, picking up where McDaniels left off.
And I can’t imagine that there aren’t more than a few MS Conservatives who would be both viable third party/write in candidates AND are pissed about what happened.
“Or else sap away enough GOP support from any one candidate that the Democrat prevails.”
Murkowski didn’t give a damn about that and look where she is.
A write in campaign CAN win.
Look at the June 3 results here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-tran/elections/2014-primaries-june3
(Mississippi results are down the page)
Notice the top vote getter that night was McDaniel. The ENTIRE Democrat slate didn’t get HALF the votes of EITHER Republican.
I don’t think Cochran will get DEMOCRAT votes in the general election, do you?
McDaniel could repeat what he did on June 3 and be the next Senator from Mississippi.
No doubt, Biggirl, is always the best idea.
I also found a PDF that said MS passed the law in 1906. That can be found at www.electionadmin.WISC.edu/bjk.PDF
It is noted in one of the last pages on Table 1, an alphabetical listing of all states with sore loser laws.
I agree with this. Disloyalty and intrigue on the part of Cochran should result in a write-in campaign for McDaniels as a protest. Both will probably lose, but it is the only strategy that makes the establishment pay for their treachery.
Conservatives will vote their conscience with a write-in ballot, and they will not be voting against their principles.
The establishment must pay for treachery.
Write In McDaniels
Thank-you! Bookmarked!
well, i never heard of that one. if so, i guess mcdaniel will have to cool his heels. thanks for the info. i can keep my money.
at least the republocrats can’t force you to vote in ms, can they? if that freedom is still left in ms, i hope conservatives stay home in protest. of course, they’ll probably fix that loophole soon, too. welcome to tyranny.
Alaska also has a sore loser law. It’s why Lisa Murkowski, the GOPe candidate, staged a write-in campaign to keep her seat.
I hate that they have it. You’re welcome.
wait. so mcdaniel can stage a write-in then?
Yes.
His supporters were chanting it last night.
Mur’cow’ski here we come!
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