RSS Feed MenuNo – but according to Politico, he can count…
[T]he GOP is quietly pursuing a 2010 strategy that relies heavily on candidates nearly identical to Specter. The party’s road to winning back a Senate majority, it seems, is paved with moderates whose records are sure to make conservatives blanch.
For the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s recruitment list for 2010 reads like a roster of some of the party’s best-known RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) and squishes — the derisive terms applied to centrists by movement conservatives.
The party’s top choice for Florida’s open Senate seat is popular Gov. Charlie Crist, who raised eyebrows earlier this year with his vigorous advocacy of President Barack Obama’s stimulus package — he even went so far as to appear with Obama at a Florida rally in February. In Connecticut, the national GOP has lobbied former Rep. Rob Simmons — who holds a higher lifetime rating from the liberal Americans for Democratic Action group than Specter does — to challenge Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd.
In Delaware, where there is widespread consensus that just one Republican — Rep. Michael Castle, the co-founder of the moderate Republican Main Street Partnership — can win Joe Biden’s former seat, the push is on to get him to announce for the Senate. Castle, one of three Republicans who voted for all six bills on the Democrats’ “100 hour” agenda in 2007, was the only Republican standing alongside Obama when he signed an executive order in March allowing federal funds for stem cell research.
In the Midwest, there’s Illinois Rep. Mark Kirk, another leading centrist viewed as the GOP’s best hope of capturing a blue-state Senate seat the one Obama vacated after he was elected president.
ottovbvs // May 7, 2009 at 9:00 am
Politico’s right. Cornyn is a hard right conservative but since he’s charged with getting Republicans elected it behooves him to behave with a modicum of commonsense. If Crist and Ridge aren’t RINO’s by most movement conservative definitions then I don’t know who is. But without these sort of guys the GOP is never going to make it back.
barker13 // May 7, 2009 at 10:14 am
David. What’s your point…??? Or rather… what’s your position? Are you applauding or decrying the strategy outlined in the Politico piece?Me? I believe it’s a disaster in the making. Otto? He believes it’s great strategy.YOU…??? You simply provide a link.(*SHRUG*)BILLP.S. – BTW… any reaction to the various posts on the various threads concerning Chrysler and related matters?I mean… it’s pretty clear that the majority of posters couldn’t care less about the law or the rule of law. Does this bother you?
krove // May 7, 2009 at 10:25 am
WHOOPS. Looks like at least one wheel has come off the bus already. Ridge is OUT.”"After careful consideration and many conversations with friends and family and the leadership of my party, I have decided not to seek the Republican nomination for Senate,” Ridge said in a statement, adding later, “The 2010 race has significant implications for my party, and that required thoughtful reflection. All of the above made my decision a difficult and deeply personal conclusion to reach. … To those who believe that the Republican Party is facing challenges; they are right. To those who believe the Democratic Party is without its own difficulties, they are wrong. No one party has a monopoly on all of the answers. … And so my desire and intention is to help my party craft solutions that both sides of the aisle can embrace.” It’s just as well. We’ve got polling we’ll be releasing in the next couple of hours that showed Ridge losing to Pat Toomey in the Republican primary 41-33.
barker13 // May 7, 2009 at 10:33 am
Hey… Karen… let’s see if you and I can come up with the perfect “compromise”:Ridge also leaves the GOP. Becomes a Democrat. Pursues their Party’s nomination for the Senate candidacy 2010. Wins over Specter and all Democrat challengers. Faces Toomey in the election and…I’d still be rooting for Toomey… but I’d settle for Democrat Ridge!(*WINK*)BILL
krove // May 7, 2009 at 10:38 am
OH Nooz the GOP is dead. Joe the non plumber has left the party. Said it was in favor of spending. Not sure where he is going. Any ideas?
krove // May 7, 2009 at 10:41 am
Sounds good Barking. Or maybe Joe the Plumber now an independent stands for the seat on a No Tax At All ticket!
ireign // May 7, 2009 at 10:47 am
I noticed that politico changed the title of the piece to “GOP relies on Specter-like recruits” thereby acknowledging the underlying bias of the reporter. It is not really newsworthy that the NRSC head is going to try and get the most electable candidate for the district. Libby Dole was willing to overlook Lincoln Chafee’s stance on almost every substantive issue and back him heavily in the Rhode Island primary. Republicans actively recruited Arnold in California (to their and California’s detriment) and socially liberal Mayor Riordan before that. The problem that some saw with Specter (I disagreed) was that he wasn’t conservative enough for PA. Conservatives felt they could get get a true conservative elected statewide and they didn’t personally like Specter (no surprise there as even the Democrats took away his seniority and his nickname is Snarlin’). We will see soon enough how the election plays out. Not much to see here. Move on.
sinz54 // May 7, 2009 at 11:12 am
krove sez: “We’ve got polling we’ll be releasing in the next couple of hours that showed Ridge losing to Pat Toomey in the Republican primary 41-33.”"We”???New Majority is honored to have an actual representative of the Dem party present here at these deliberations. Interesting how you were going to try to help the conservative GOP base defeat Ridge in the primary.
krove // May 7, 2009 at 11:31 am
There you go Sinz. You heard it here first.
ottovbvs // May 7, 2009 at 1:11 pm
barker13 10:33 AM….Yesterday this gentleman didn’t see a primary contest between Ridge and Toomey as a potential bloodbath with considerable consequences because HE would vote for Toomey and then Ridge if he won ….Ridge clearly did see the potential consequences and decided to pass…I’m afraid Barker’s and many of the far right see everything through the prism of their own beliefs…because we think like this it must be so