GOP Soul-Searching Over Thad Cochran

The American Spectator ^ | June 27, 2014 | Scott McKay

[Cincinatus' Wife]

By now you've probably seen the reaction to Tuesday night’s Mississippi Republican Senate primary election, in which shaky incumbent Thad Cochran eked out a victory over Tea Party insurgent Chris McDaniel by making use of some rather unconventional electoral tactics.

Cochran dedicated most of his efforts to pursuing Democrats, and specifically the black community. He went so far as to threaten his new voting base by saying McDaniel would cut food stamps,and made conspicuous charges of racism against both McDaniel and the Tea Party. There were further allegations, substantiated in news reports, of “street money” paid to Democratic fixers to turn out the votes of,shall we say,“new” Republican voters crossing over to vote for Cochran on a one-time basis.

The result was exactly what Cochran and his allies,including former Mississippi governor Haley Barbour, wanted and needed. Cochran managed to pull in some 35,000 “crossover” Democratic voters in a race he won by less than 7,000 votes. This created what appears to be a peculiar result:McDaniel won a relatively clear majority of Republican votes in a Republican primary, and still lost the election by a fifty-one to forty-nine margin.

To say that the Tea Party and conservative activists are unhappy about these developments would be a massive understatement....Erick Erickson delivered a stinging rebuke of Cochran’s tactics and a stern warning about the effect they might have on the already-shaky relations between the party’s Washington leadership and its conservative base:............

....But most of all,there is a lot of soul-searching going on—particularly on the part of a number of the Senate’s more outspoken conservatives, who might have gone into Mississippi to help McDaniel but for their having made a pledge not to campaign against incumbents.“That pledge would have to presuppose that Cochran wouldn’t run a Democratic campaign in a Republican primary, right?” said one of the staffers.

[Nickname]

Right now? Good thing he isn’t running for reelection this year.

I’m THAT angry with the corrupt, morally bankrupt GOP.

[Hawthorn]

>> Followed by burning down your barn to get rid of the rats <<

And something us old timers won’t forget:

“The village had to be destroyed in order to save it.”

[Prov3456]

And why do this for a candidate who is showing signs of dementia and will be 83 years old by the time this term ends.

Because after Cochran is sworn in to his next term, he resigns due to health issues, age (or whatever), and the Mississippi Republican leadership gets to choose/appoint the person to complete his term.

I don't know Mississippi laws and don't know the process there, so I am making assumptions. Nevertheless, this strategy makes sense to me. And you can rest assured that whoever makes that appointment would not choose Chris McDaniel.

Evil!

[Mamzelle]

Not too very different from Graham’s victory in SC.

[DrewsMum]

The GopE doesn’t adhere to the Republican platform anymore. They have actually formed their own party with a totally different agenda.

[deport]

Thad is only going to be there for a year or two.

**************

That has been my thinking for sometime but I believe it is only for six months or so.
The gov. will appoint a replacement which will have 1 1/2 years go get ready for the
next special election for the remaining four years of that seat in 2016.

[WKB]

Mississippi ping I am at the point I don’t know what is worth pinging and what is not anymore. I do know this the more I see and hear the more I hope Chris will fight this and win or win in Nov. Without the Dim vote it should be easy.

[WKB]

(he resigns due to health issues, age (or whatever), and the Mississippi Republican leadership gets to choose/appoint the person to complete his term.)

One little correction “Haley Barbour gets to choose”

[WKB]

Thanks

[ken5050]

Try this: Guess the date Thad Cochran announces his retirement

[painter]

I could not believe what your candidate said that destroyed his campaign. I mean this was something like a MONTH after Todd Aiken "shot" himself in the face with his STUPID statement.

I am as prolife as these guys and there is NO WAY I would let some reporter corner me to make statements like these CLOWNS did.

[ken5050]

Good morning...one question

Obviously there are Democrats who voted in their earlier primary and who them illegally voted in the GOP run-off.

Early analysis suggests that there were more than enough of these to provide Cochran's margin of victory.

Is McDaniel going to try and get these disqualified and then claim victory, or move for a new election?...I know there was an election in Miss a little while back that the judge tossed out and ordered a new one.

Are these two scenarios working together..or are they different...does he have to decide which avenue to pursue..

[deport]

Tell me how much longer we are going to have OPEN primaries,

**************

http://grassrootsidgop.wordpress.com/list-of-states-with-open-and-closed-primaries/

There are some 19 states with open primaries and a few others with some variation.
My guess it’s up to the citizens of each state to decide how they wish their elections
to be conducted. When enough citizens want a change it will happen but not soon, imo.

[i_robot73]

I’m not one for closing the primary to ‘party only’; that, IMHO, disenfranchises many to vote for whom they think would represent them best....regardless of party.

A simple(r) ‘fix’ to these type of shenanigans: hold the elections for all parties on the same day (make them make some possibly HARD choices)

[EternalVigilance]

http://www.selfgovernment.us/

[EternalVigilance]

Quit forcing the taxpayers to pay for political parties to choose their candidates.

In other words, junk the extra-constitutional political party and primary system entirely.

Allow only write-ins in a general election.

That’s where my thinking has gone.

[livius]

This was a special run-off election. The only people voting in it should have been GOPers, and the state at least should not let members of the opposite party vote in run-offs of the other party.

That said, I don’t see how closing primaries to “party only” disenfranchises anybody. Presumably, everybody has a candidate in their own party who they think would best represent their interests, and it’s up to them to choose that person in their own party’s primary, not to go mucking up the primary of the other party.

They’re perfectly free to vote for whomever they want when the general election rolls around, but they really should work on getting good representation from their own party in the primaries.

[Chaguito]

Shill Hannity has had opportunities to force Rove to comment on the MS chicanery. No joy.

[jospehm20]

Yes, that struck me too. How can you search something that doesn’t exist?

[mrsmel]

Roger that. I want to see how they win in Novemebr when the rat voters go home and the real conservative voters put our hands behind our backs as regards Cockroach.