Continuing a thought expressed a week ago...
Tomorrow, next door in RI, voters will go to the polls for a Republican US Senate primary. Registered Republicans and Independents are eligible to vote, and the incumbent appears to be in a bit of trouble. A couple of weeks ago I asked if people thought - considering what we've already seen here in CT -if maybe there was a purge under way by hardliners in the two political parties to rid themselves of candidates who tend to stake out the middle, or if folks thought it might be the early signs of a wider anti-incumbent mood among the electorate.
I don't really wish to re-engage in that, those of you who expressed your views previously were quite clear on what you thought. But I do present the following simply for consideration as an update to that line of thinking.
This is from the New York Times: In an extraordinary pre-emptive announcement, the National Republican Senatorial Committee has said it will concede Rhode Island to the Democrats should Stephen Laffey defeats Lincoln Chafee.
According to its polling, Republican leaders apparetnly believe there is no way Laffey can win in November - thus, no sense spending the time and money trying to save a GOP seat.
And this from www.Stateline.org: Voters this year already have dumped one governor in the primaries, and political experts predict the electorate is only warming up for the November elections,.
I don't really wish to re-engage in that, those of you who expressed your views previously were quite clear on what you thought. But I do present the following simply for consideration as an update to that line of thinking.
This is from the New York Times: In an extraordinary pre-emptive announcement, the National Republican Senatorial Committee has said it will concede Rhode Island to the Democrats should Stephen Laffey defeats Lincoln Chafee.
According to its polling, Republican leaders apparetnly believe there is no way Laffey can win in November - thus, no sense spending the time and money trying to save a GOP seat.
And this from www.Stateline.org: Voters this year already have dumped one governor in the primaries, and political experts predict the electorate is only warming up for the November elections,.
posted by Ray Hackett at 1:56 PM
2 Comments:
Why do people insist on quoting the New York Times? This is the same newspaper that prints American state secrets on its front page. I will never buy it again. It’s true enough that Republican incumbents in Washington (including bafflingly the President) are trying in vain to prop up their wounded when they should be letting them die for good of the herd. All year long they have no backbone but now that the primary elections are upon us they panic and make empty threats. Senator Liz Dole was in RI the other week and she was pretty mouthy about Mayor Steven Laffey.
Career politicians persistently ignore the larger picture. All this fuss and play of theirs doesn’t serve the issues Republicans care about nor does it win elections in the long run. -- Which is kind of the point of winning elections. You want to win elections to get the policy changes you want. Winning elections is pointless without the policy victories after the election.
Look at Pennsylvania. The same exact thing happened two years ago as is happening in Rhode Island right now. Real Republicans were backing real Republican Pat Toomey. Conservatives all over the nation wanted to stop “Snarlin' Arlen” from becoming chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee (Do I need to explain why?). The establishment incumbents backed liberal Arlin Spector including Bush. Even fellow Republican Senator Rick Santorum backed Spector and they agree on nothing. Now here we are two years latter and Santorum is clearly going to lose. PA. Republican primary voters prostituted themselves and now won’t have even a single seat.
That’s what you get when you try to outsmart your own base.
Also I challenge the notion that an incumbent can’t be knocked off in a primary and his/her replacement can’t go on to win the General. Where is it written that such is not allowed? John E Sununu wrestled the nomination away from sitting Senator Robert C. Smith and went on the defeat a sitting Governor Governor Jeanne Shaheen! Way to go John! He got rid of TWO incumbents!
No Guts, No Glory!
The RNC might not be backing Laffey but other groups like Club For Growth are.
Losing this seat to the Democrats is not a loss. It’s status quo. The Democrats already have this seat. Chaffee always votes with them and wants to switch to the Democrat party. What is the point of letting him stab us in the back? Two, by firing Chaffee rank and file members of the party (like me) send a clear unmistakable message to other liberal weenies such as the two RINOs in Maine that they can only get away with so much before they too will guillotined.
Elections matter. Bring it on.
McCommas...I do indeed understand how you feel, and I am not surprised that the New York Times wouldn't be on your list of reading. But I've always believed that you shortchange yourself if you don't take in the views of a variety of sources - it doesn't matter if you agree or disagree. In fact, the more diverse the views the better opportunity, I think, in developing a point of view.
Which may explain why I find myself looking forward to your participation in this blog. We may not agree on a lot but I do find your perspective both interesting and thought out.
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