They’ve got these people running around and ticking off the other 75% of the GOP electorate:
Background post here: amazingly, somebody actually thought that the above was an appropriate response to a helpful suggestion*. What it really was, of course, was an invitation for me to set up a direct-to-spam and an excuse to put up the PayPal button:
In other words: congratulations, Sparky, I’m now using you to fund-raise. I somehow suspect that wasn’t your plan all along.
Moe Lane
*Said suggestion made, by the way, by someone who just recently defended Mitt Romney from the blatant hypocrisy coming out of the White House. :sigh: I really, really wish that people did better oppo research: there’s no sport in this, sometimes.
Honestly, I have no sympathy for those who couldn’t get their act together and get the signatures. I am having to get all of mine all by myself. No one, and I mean no one, is helping me. If I can’t get them by the deadline, then I have no business running.
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I’m sorry if I am sounding a little bitter at this moment, but these people have had a ton of time. Virginia has NOT moved up their primary and they have known when to start and start early. I started really early (almost 11 months before they are due) and I will start turning the ones I have now in next month to get a good idea where I am at.
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While I am in no way a Romney supporter/defender, that guy has a good point.
Given that his ‘point’ was pretty much “You guys suck because you didn’t endorse Romney like Erick did in 2004!” (don’t look at me, that’s what he said), you’ll understand that I don’t really agree with him. 🙂
Romney and all his supporters are going to look mighty foolish if Ron Paul wins Virginia. Heck, if I lived in Virginia I’d probably vote for Ron Paul given the choice between him and Romney just to torque off the Romneyites.
I was talking about blaming the VAGOP. They are in no way to blame for Perry or Gingrich not able to get on the ballot.
I disagree Gator 400 to 600 names per District? Seems to me they set up the rules to favor previous Presidential Candidates who would be well-Financed enough to have an organization in every District and access to the active voter roles. It also seems to my untrained eye as though it would work against first time not well-Financed candidates. So this may be a case of being a few signatures short in one district is disqualifying the Candidates. Since I’m one of the people who have a REAL problem with Romney, I’m afraid I’ll have to Know a WHOLE LOT MORE about this to make a judgement. (Insert nasty Growl here.)
If the GOP establishment MUST HAVE ROMNEY AND TO HELL WITH THE BASE then they can lose, because Romney will. not. carry. the. South.
To be clear, I will not vote for him. Period. If we are going to continue the liberal train wreck, it can be under democrat leadership. That way, it will be over marginally faster, so the rebuilding can begin that much sooner.
Catseye: I don’t see how this is such a big deal. You send a few people into each district to stand in front of shopping centers and on street corners for a few days. And you call the local party offices and ask for their help in finding and contacting supporters. There are roughly 700,000 people in each congressional district, more than half of whom are registered to vote. If you can’t find 400 people who are willing to support your candidacy from a pool of 400,000, then that’s the REAL problem, I would say. And qixlqatl, if Romney does get the nomination, and people like you give Obama the election, and he breaks this country beyond repair in his second term (as seems likely), then I hope you’ll be happy that your little self-righteous snit screwed the rest of us over.
The Virginia rules are state law, the party does have some flexibility but the 10K/400 requirement and 15-20K/600-800 recommendation has been the same for over thirty years at least – I worked on a Senate campaign in 1978 there, same deal and same recommendation.
Alan Keyes qualified under stricter rules (requiring last four digits of SSN for each signer) in 2000 and Denis Kucinich did so in 2008. In 2008 there were six Republicans who qualified for the Virginia ballot. It may not be easy, but it isn’t so awfully hard, either.
Newt is a little whiner. At least Perry has the excuse of recovering from back surgery at the time (July 1st) the signing period began. Maybe Newt could have skipped a few cruises and trips to Tiffany’s and spent the time in Virginia instead?
He LIVES in Virginia, and says he will mount a write-in campaign – BUT there are no write-ins in primaries in Virginia. Newt doesn’t know the election laws of his own state of residence, no wonder he wasn’t offered tenure at Georgia Western College, ending his career as a professor.
On kingmakers and such:
When I started reading Redstate, there were a ton of bright editors writing insightful stuff about the wars, conservatism, public policy, the Bush Administration, etc.
And there was Erick. Who is far more of a red meat, “it’s all about Republicans winning” guy.
Eventually Erick anointed himself kingmaker in chief, and I stopped reading Red State. It became insufferable. I know he’s your friend, Moe, and obviously I respect what you’re bringing to the table. That’s why I hang out here instead of there, though.
Tying that back to the Romney supporter’s gripe: Now that Redstate is far more about advocacy than ideas, such responses are totally fair.
NSBS: So you agree with the fellow that I’m a fool who attempted to manipulate the Republican Party out of some petty desire for power, then? Good to know.
Please. Don’t embarrass yourself further on this. You came on my personal site and endorsed a personal attack made against me. I have every right to be offended.
Demosthenes, this country is all ready so broken I don’t know that it can be repaired now. I know that Romney isn’t the one to do it, even if he does manage to pull off the win, which I don’t believe he can. He might stop ‘pouring on the coal’, but he wouldn’t change course. I’ll go and vote for the down-ticket offices, but I will not validate the kingmakers policy that all presidential candidates must be malleable moderates. You see, I’m all ready screwed (financially wiped out, to be clear) and have zero interest in maintaining the status quo. I see absolutely nothing in Romney to encourage the slightest bit of hope that anything will improve under his administration. If you want to call that a “self-righteous snit”, go ahead. Don’t cry to me if Romney is elected and continues to pursue precisely the same policies as Obama, as I expect.
I agree with qixqatl. Big government Republican, Big Government Democrat, whats the difference, none to my mind. It seems to me that this is an argument between the “anybody but O’Bama” wing of the Right and the “let’em burn on the pyre of their own choosing” wing. In short many people in the Republican party voted for O’bama, and I recognize that Democracy is a double-edged sword. It CUTS BOTH WAYS they forgot that, if they ever knew. Whoever is the Republican Candidate will have to be able to persuade the “let’em burn ” side of the right to go out and vote and Romney isn’t that guy. Sorry.
Sorry Moe. That wasn’t the part I was endorsing at all. I was just commenting on the Redstate part. That’s why I started with the specific phrase “On kingmakers and such:” I actually LOVE the way you handle yourself on politics and policy issues, and honestly think that people who see that sort cynicism in you are misreading — at a minimum. It’s why I come here, frankly. No offense intended.
Shorter NSBS: I wasn’t intending to endorse the attack. That was just me being stupid.
…NSBS: I’m sorry. 9/10ths of that was me trying to put together the Step 2 toy workbench at the exact same time that the eldest child – high on a devil’s brew of chocolate chip cookies and terror at his brother’s talking Cookie Monster doll – was trying to use the Step 2 toy workbench as an impromptu exorcism mechanism for said doll. So, I’m sorry that I snapped at you.