North Dakota

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?!?

(promoted by Soren. This is a valuable debate)

I want to give my support to my friend Gary Emineth, the North Dakota GOP chairman. 

Gary's a good man and a good conservative who's made real progress in modernizing the North Dakota GOP.

Ryan James pointed out that Gary got himself into The Hill with an unfortunate quote.

I believe that Gary was telling the literal truth -- that only the 168 RNC members are the ones who will elect the next chairman. That's why RNC members, who represent us as party members, need as many opportunities as possible to see the Chairman candidates.

 Emineth is on our side -- creating another opportunity for the party to see the Chairman candidates and make them answer the tough questions.

I think that's critical. Let us see the candidates, on the blogs and in person. Let us question them and determine who's the best choice to lead the party.

To my knowledge, Gary is neutral in the Chairman's race at this point. That's all the more reason why we should support his proposal -- there's no strings attached.

Gary's the right kind of chairman. Conservative, smart, collaborative, and quick to support the changes we need. I support him.

UPDATE: Chairman Emineth responds in the comments, and Matt Dabrowski, who knows Emineth, posts a blog on the matter here.

The Chairman of the Republican National Committee represents the 59 million Americans who voted Republican on November 4th, not just 168 party officials. And through county committees and state committees, WE elect the 168. We may not have a vote, but we DO have a voice. Make sure that the choice for the next RNC Chair represents YOUR hopes for the future of the Republican Party by making your voice heard at RebuildTheParty.com or ChooseYourChairman.com. -Patrick

I wish to alert many of my fellow young conservative activists to the quote in this post’s title. It comes from North Dakota Republican Party Chairman Gary Emineth in a story posted today at TheHill.com.

The story details Mr. Emineth’s call for a special meeting of the full RNC in order to attend the ATR debate at the National Press Club on January 5.

While is it commendable that Mr. Emineth feels the need to gather as many voting members of the RNC to this important event, I feel it would be remiss not to challenge the North Dakota chairman for his comment. It is, on its face, an extremely arrogant one which lends credence to the belief that the Republican Party is elitist and it is, at the very least, a slap in the face of those young Republican and conservative activists who have joined together out of a common concern about the direction of the Republican Party.

Whether it occurs at Rebuild the Party, the YRNetwork, the Young Conservative Coalition or meetings like the forum we held in Washington, D.C., in early December, I would submit to Mr. Emineth that it very much matters what we (the public) thinks about the selection of our party’s next chairman. We, as young activists, have the opportunity to put pressure on our state party’s elected leadership - even going as far as to vote them out if they do not listen to a group which will represent their donor and volunteer lists for the next few decades.

I wonder what the then 28-year-old Mr. Emineth would think of the present-day version of himself when he was serving as the executive director of the North Dakota party back in 1986? Would the 1986 version agree that it did not matter what a young person like himself thought about the future of his party? I would think that Mr. Emineth, the 1986 version, would have an outlook similar to mine.

I do not know Mr. Emineth personally, so I cannot judge the chairman any further than his call for a special meeting (which I applaud) and the comment in the report (which I admonish). It is my hope that Mr. Emineth will disavow his comment which, in my opinion, is detrimental toward the movement that all of us are trying to build.

If you are so inclined, I encourage you to make contact with Chairman Emineth in order to let him know your reaction to his comments. All that I ask is that you are polite and offer the chairman a modicum of respect.

Moving forward, I believe it is in our best interests to get as many young people to contact your state’s chairman, national committeeman, national committeewoman and executive director in order to communicate your desires as to the future of the party in your state, the GOP as a whole and who will lead us in the future.