Blanche Lincoln

Blanche Lincoln barely survived a challenge by Governor Bill Halter, 52% to 48%, in her bid to win the Arkansas primary. She’s not out of the woods yet by a long shot. She still has to face Republican US Representative John Boozman in November. Actually, with Boozman polling 25 points ahead of Lincoln she has plenty to worry about. Rasmussen has him at +38 points.

Meg Whitman and husband Griffith Harsh

For good or ill, Meg Whitman is going to be the Republican candidate for Governor. This is going to be one of those moments which is going to challenge my sense of party loyalty. I don’t trust Meg Whitman. Ever since I saw a video a couple of times in which she was interviewed about her meeting Van Jones, late of the Obama administration and self-identified communist activist, while on an environmental cruise up north. She literally gushed all over herself about him. What amounted to a political endorsement was given with no investigation into Van Jones background whatsoever. She is, however, California’s best bet and I do think she can defeat “Moonbeam” Brown.

Carly Fiorina

To complete the ladies tour de force through California politics, Carly Fiorina showed surprising strength toward the end of the race and she will face Babs ‘Rocks in the Box’ Boxer. There are some predicting that Babs will carve Carly a new turkey, but I’m not so sure. She can beat Babs, but she needs to stick to principles and issues and not let the DeMarxists control the message. She has to stand up and be prepared to go toe to toe and slug it out.

Sharron Angle

Another Tea Party favorite, Sharron Angle, will face Nevada Senator Harry Reid in November. Angle shows a slight lead but had better be prepared for the worst ‘Dingy Harry’ can throw at her. In South Carolina, Nikki Haley handily defeated the opposition to win the Republican nomination for Governor. This lady is a class act. In Iowa, the Republican party has nominated former governor Terry Branstad to run against Democrat Governor Chet Culver. Come join us on the Conservative march to victory, November 2010.

Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis

© Skip MacLure 2010

Ten states hold primary elections today, in addition to the runoff in Arkansas and a Republican Congressional special in Georgia. DeMarxists in Congress are by no means eager to press for Obama’s agenda. A lot of these folks must know by now that they are toast. Voters are in a mood to punish incumbents who they see as betraying the people’s trust by voting in favor of the health care legislation.

Blanche Lincoln campaigning in her home town.

Blanche Lincoln comes to mind. She’d been playing both ends of the deck for so long that when the health care vote came up she was so far out of touch with her constituency that she didn’t recognize that fully 70% of the people of Arkansas were dead set against the Obama stealth care fraud. If Lincoln did realize that the issue was that volcanic and voted for it anyway, she should be removed from office for being as dumb as a box of rocks, which is just exactly what is going to happen today.

Across the country, from coast to coast, this preliminary to the main event in November has both parties watching very carefully, even as the various candidates campaign down to the wire for today’s elections. Conservative Republicans are running strongly across the country. The influence of the Conservative Patriot movements and the Tea Partiers cannot be underestimated here, as the establishment Republicans discovered to their dismay and embarrassment that instead of ‘instilling’ party discipline on those unsophisticated rubes, they were not only ignored but they were pulled ignominiously along behind Americans that were sick to death of government business-as-usual, regardless of what side of the aisle it came from.

All indications are that Democrat incumbents will take a bath today. I sincerely hope so. It’ll be just that many fewer we have to beat in November. The message is clear. America has just about had it with Obama’s vision for America.

Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis

© Skip MacLure 2010

Senator John Kyle told a reporter this, when asked what they were doing about the health care debacle. “We are offering amendments to make it a better bill.” WHAT?!! This is what we are getting for leadership out of our Senators?

They haven’t figured out, after all the fuss, that the American people don’t want any part of this bill? Do we have to dump the entire leadership and start over? What do they not understand about ‘just say no’? We didn’t ask them to repair the darn thing. We asked them to reject the redistribution of 1/6 of the nation’s economy entirely. Scrap it and start over using free market principles and tort reform for starters.

John McCain has so far been one of the most cogent and vocal proponents of scrapping the legislation and starting over. I certainly have my differences with Senator McCain, but he has been a stalwart on this one.

Our favorite RINOs in the meantime, Republican Senators OLYMPIA SNOWE and SUSAN COLLINS, are playing ‘ring around the rosie’ and may get dropped like the plague if they vote for this thing. They need another reminder of just who it is they work for. Snowe was called up to the White House to cozy up to His Anointedness over the weekend…one wonders what the price tag of her treachery will turn out to be.

We know that the bribe of largesse to Blanche Lincoln was THREE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS to sell out her constituents. By the way, she is significantly behind her challengers in the upcoming election polling. Arkansans are 56% against the health care bill as opposed to a mere 18% who approve of the legislation. More attention needs to be paid to BLANCHE LINCOLN this week as well. We need to hammer the message home in no too uncertain terms exactly what we expect and what we will do if they vote yes.

The ever popular Dingy Harry Reid is a full TEN POINTS DOWN IN HIS OWN STATE! This, after he put on a SIX WEEK media blitz trying to sell his bait and switch to the people of Nevada, who are almost universally against the health care takeover.

It seems the American people have and are doing their part in spades. It’s time the Republican leadership does theirs. We expect them to fight this bill…every WORD, COMMA AND PERIOD. And what’s more, we expect them to win!

Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis

© Skip MacLure 2009

Based on the Mortgage Cramdown vote, these Democrats are our best hope for beating ObamaCare.

1) Max Baucus (MT) - (406) 761-1574 - Senate Finance Committee Chair

2) Michael Bennet (CO) - (719) 328-1100

3) Robert Byrd (W. Va) - (304) 264-4626

4) Thomas Carper (DE) - (302) 856-7690

5) Byron Dorgan (ND) - (701) 852-0703

6) Tim Johnson (SD) - (605) 332-8896

7) Mary Landrieu (LA) - (337) 436-6650

8) Blanche Lincoln (AR) - (870)382-1023

9) Ben Nelson (NE) - (308) 631-7614

10) Mark Pryor (AR) - (501) 324-6336

11) Arlen Specter (PA) - 570-346-2006 - I Know; just think about how much fun it'll be when he stabs the Dems in the Back!!!

12) John Tester (MT) - (406) 365-2391

Honorable Mention - Evan Bayh (IN), Mark Begich (AK), Kent Conrad (ND), Bill Nelson (FL)

We can Beat this Thing!!!

I hope this helps.

Cahnman out.

Michael Barone makes a typically brilliant point looking forward to 2010:

[I]f I were a conservative cheerleader against the Obama/Pelosi stimulus package, I would be concentrating less of my fire against the three Republicans who supported the Senate version and more on Democratic members of the House and (at least those who are up for reelection in 2010) the Senate.

Given all the talk on the right the past few days, I must go on the record AGAINST a primary challenge to Arlen Specter.  My reason is simple: Arlen Specter is the only Republican who's won Statewide in Pennsylvania at the Federal Level since 2001.  More specifically, he knows how to win in the Philly suburbs.  As Chris Palko has blogged about on this site, Republicans have gotten killed in the Philly 'burbs for the past decade.

A little background: I supported Pat Toomey in 2004.  In 2004, Republicans had a (reasonably) popular President, control of the U.S. House, and VERY narrow control of the U.S. Senate; under those circumstances, it made sense to replace a Liberal Republican with a Conservative Republican.  There was good reason to believe that whoever won the Republican Primary would cruise to victory in the General Election.  As a state with a Democrat Governor and a Republican State Senate, Pennsylvanians are well known ticket splitters.

In 2010, Republicans will only have 41 Senators.  While the President's popularity heading into the election cannot be known, Conservatives should prepare for the worst.  Republicans shouldn't risk a perfectly good Senate seat when a much smarter alternative exists.  Whatever Specter's flaws, a liberal Republican is better than a Democrat.

And what, pray tell, is the Alternative?

That one's simple.

Let's Beat Democrats!

More Specifically, there are 5 (actually 10) Senate seats currently held by DEMOCRATS that we should aggressively target before we counterproductively cannibalize our own.

1) Indiana - While Obama eeked out McCain in this state in 2008, it's historically been a GOP stronghold.  As such, Indiana will be Ground Zero of any backlash against President Obama's economic policies; Evan Bayh will not be able to hide his vote(s) .  If Mike Pence runs for the Seat, so much the better.

2) Wisconsin - While Obama won this state solidly in 2008, it has a history of electing Republicans and Bush almost won it in 2004.  The Incumbent, Russ Feingold, is a far left kook who teamed up with John McCain for one of the all time great legislative assaults on the Constitution.  If Congressman Paul Ryan or Former Governor Thompson could pick up this seat, they would do the nation a great service.

3) North Dakota - This is a state that consistently votes Republican at the Presidential and Gubenatorial Levels yet elects borderline Bolsheviks to the U.S. Senate.  Well, the Radicals Have Taken Over and they just got their way on economic policy.  Byron Dorgan will own the results of President Obama's economic policy.  Most of the statewide offices (at the state level) are held by Republicans.

4) Arkansas -  This state was one of the few bright spots for the GOP in 2008.  Every county voted more Republican than 2004.  Seats like these are the low hanging fruit of any future majority.

5) Nevada - President Obama just insulted Las Vegas.  Harry Reid is President Obama's cheif Lieutenant in the Senate.  Need I say more?

As you can see, pickup opportunities abound in seats currently held by Democrats.  We can do more to influence the agenda in the Senate by picking up these seats than by going after one of our own.  Primary Challenges are a luxury we cannot afford.

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In case you would like to know why Arlen Specter deserves to stay in the Senate, I present the following three reasons:

1) The Surge -- In 2007, when the Democrats in Congress wanted to give up in Iraq, Senate Republicans rallied around President Bush and gave him enough breathing room to get the Surge off the Ground.  Arlen Specter was one of those Senate Republicans.

2) John Roberts and Sam Alito -- As Judiciary Committee chairman, Specter did what was necesssary to get President Bush's Supreme Court nominees through the Senate.  He'll do the same with any future Republican President.

3) Senator Chris Matthews -- I just can't handle that.  No way.  I can live with Arlen Specter if it prevents that.

I hope this helps.

Thoughts/Suggestion?!?