Putting aside Bill Hauf’s entrance (re-entrance?) in the CD 50 race for a moment, let’s look at some of the Roach decision fallout/reaction/response/spin/you-name-it:
Jimmy Valentine, producer for Roger Hedgecock, ran this in today’s FlashFax (not to be confused with the FlashReport)…
ROACH BAILS!! Let’s see it be the 8th of May, less than a month away from the June 6th primary, and finally Eric Roach, having consulted with the so-called gurus of conservatism, decides to abandon his quest for the 50th.
Roach is toast. After the wrangle that he put everybody thru with his consulting and undermining Bilbray for weeks on end via his surrogate Jon Fleischmann (Flash Report: not to be confused with Flash Fax) we suspect he’ll find a welcome mat in the GOP about the same time that Ted Kennedy is welcomed aboard.
A firm grasp on reality does not appear to be a republican virtue. Local folks very late understanding that the House really is in jeopardy. The 50th is a very rare open seat (Delay’s in Texas open as well) that has no incumbent to claim automatic victory. The numbers in the 50th favor republicans but these are not ordinary times and after Cunningham, voters in the district are not predictable. Add to that the cost of gasoline, the President’s polling, various concerns about progress in Iraq, and flip the coin.
There may have been a time when infighting was a good thing amongst republicans. That time really is not now. The party must debate but when the forces of evil are at the barricades the time for quibble is done. The dems smell blood in the water. They took a seat away from Bilbray once before and figure they can do it again with another womens candidate – and now in perilous times.
If Roach and Kaloogian and Morrow are half bright, they’d best be out on the campaign trail in support of Bilbray. They’d best be talking to the flock about getting to the vote booth on June 6th. A stay at home vote is a Busby vote. Grover Norquist and Steve Baldwin chose a terrible time to try and re-direct the party in the 50th. Efforts to change the Gop climate in Congress could well result in a far more dramatic change in Congress – Pelosi In Charge. Busby in da seat. Let the Grove-man chew on that for a little bit. And while we’re at it, why don’t that man just shut up. He don’t live in the 50th. Frankly we think Tom Delay paid a bit too much attention to him.
As a result, Steve Baldwin sez…
Jimmy:
What a sad day. Two days ago a Moore poll was released showing that Bilbray can’t beat Busby and that Roach has a far better chance of doing so. And yet, the moderate, pro-big government GOP establishment launched a massive campaign to pressure Roach to drop out.
Strange, I never thought I would see the day that your radio show certainly gave the appearance to supporting the effort by the GOP establishment to force a more conservative — and stronger — Republican candidate out of the race. Talk about allowing the moderates to lead us around by the nose. No wonder the grass roots are defecting from the GOP in large numbers.
If we lose this seat my friend, don’t blame the conservatives. A analysis of the last election showed that Roach received more Republican votes on election day than did Bilbray (Bilbray receive thousands of Dem crossover votes) and coupled with the poll, you would think that everyone would rally around Roach. Instead, the whole GOP establishment attacked Roach.
We should be defending Roach from the Washington good old boys crowd. Did you know that lobbyist Bilbray has funneled tens of thousands of dollars to his fellow San Diego Congressmen who now — SURPRISE! — endorse him? Did you know that a local congressman threatened Packard — now a lobbyist — to abandon his fellow LDS buddy (Roach) or else his client’s bills would be killed?
This election is all about inside politics having to do with greed, money and the good old boy network, NOT political philosophy! I wish Roger would see through all this. Not only that, but the grassroots is
OUTRAGED. They’re mad as hell at a GOP that has done nothing to advance our agenda. And now they’re reading the newspapers and the blogs and seeing the same old discredited GOP establishment shoving this liberal candidate down our throat — with no opposition from local "leaders."
It will be impossible to convince pro-lifers to vote for a candidate who has an F from Right to Life. Or for a gun owner to vote for a guy who supports gun control. It will be impossible for those alarmed by the gay
rights movement to support a guy who attends transsexual functions. Bilbray’s D rating from National Taxpayers Union will never get the economic conservatives to the polls. For those concerned with foreign
policy, Bilbray’s view of Kyoto (he supports it) and his statements about nomalizing relations with Cuba, will just thrill the pro-sovereignty and pro-defense crowd.
The local Party and Roger, Duncan, Issa, Packard etc. should have been standing up for Roach and demanding that Bilbray — whose received less GOP votes than Roach — step aside. Moreover, with nearly all the other defeated candidates willing to support Roach, the effort to force Roach out has succeeded in angering the 70% of the voters who refused to vote for Bilbray.
This is a classic example of the big GOP moderate establishment trying to tell us what to do and yet the conservative leadership of San Diego failed to stand up to them. These are the same jerks who have allowed the GOP to become a party of corruption and will cost us control of the house and, likely the presidency. It’s a sad day for San Diego, for the conservative movement and for the Republican Party.
Lastly, SD GOP Chair Ron Nehring’s take, nary a mention of Brian (or, how a couple mil won’t get you a Congressional seat, but it will get you some GOP support for school board)…
Eric Roach is a forceful spokesman for Republican ideals, and a great asset to the Republican Party in San Diego County.
As San Diego’s majority party, we-re very pleased Eric Roach will have many opportunities to serve the people of our county and state in elective office, and I hope he chooses to enter public life as a Republican elected official in the near future.
While the overwhelming majority of elected offices in our county — 63% — are held by Republicans, there are still plenty of offices (temporarily) occupied by Democrats, plus many open seats, and there’s a U.S. Senate race coming up in just a few years as well.
The Republican Party’s strength is drawn from the values, skills, and talent of our more than 560,000 members in San Diego County. We need the best and the brightest members of our party to seek and win election to public office so we can maintain San Diego’s quality of life, and preserve it for future generations by putting Republican ideas into action.
For this reason I hope to welcome Eric Roach to the ranks of Republican elected officials in our county in the near future.
That same appreciation applies to all of our friends who offered to serve in Congress in the 50th district special election — we need their leadership in elected office to implement our ideas, to make important decisions guided by solid conservative values — and of course to drive the Democrats further into the abyss in North County. I hope each of them will consider seeking elective office as a Republican candidate this November or in 2008.
Now, we need to turn our full attention to winning the runoff election in the 50th district on June 6th, and electing our other official Republican candidates who will appear on the same ballot. There’s no such thing as a "non- partisan" election in San Diego County — every election is an opportunity to put our Republican ideas of lower taxes, smaller government, promoting personal responsibility, into action.
Eric, for what it’s worth, I’ll support you as well. You’d a made a great Congressman. And, you still might. Time is on your side.
May 9th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Let me get this straight, Roger endorses a guy who barely gets a vote and Jon and others are ultra-conservatives have been undermining Bilbray by supporting the guy who got more GOP votes than Bilbray. Come on Jimmy, I thought you were smarter than that.
May 9th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Francine Busby got 43% of the vote in a District with 30% Democrat registration.
So where exactly did these “thousands” of Democrat votes for Bilbray allegedly come from?
What is this “analysis” that supposedly proves it happened?
May 9th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Aside all of what has been said, can anyone actually say putting up that horrible tv spot the nrcc did right after the primary saying busby supported a pedophile – fellow teacher, likley helped Busby? No, this isn’t the morrow crush their you-know-what’s redux, it’s merely an observation that Bilbray is damaged goods for sure, but the kingmakers have only helped busby with rotten messaging
May 9th, 2006 at 12:00 am
What conservative leadership in San Diego?
I for one, am not going to let Washington tell me who my Congressman will be for the next 2 years. Washington has screwed up enough things already. That is what ‘Primary’ elections are for. While Bilbray is the nominee for the run-off, it does not entitle him to be ‘handed’ the Primary. To do so disenfranchises the 70% of Republican voters who chose a conservative candidate on April 11th. I will vote for Bilbray for the ‘Run-off’and Eric Roach in the ‘Primary’. It is my District and my choice and I frankly resent Washington muscling Eric Roach off the ballot and forcing endorsements under threat. I am angry that Washington has such little regard for the Republican voters in this District. I fail to see how voting my choice in the Primary, hurts the Party or jeopardizes the seat for Republicans.
Eric may not be running an ‘active’ campaign but he is still on the Primary ballot and I have a choice – I am voting for him.
May 9th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Joe – I’ve seen some terrible mail (and some excellent mail too) come out of Sac, but I’ve NEVER seen anything come out of D.C. that rose above the mediocre. (I don’t watch much TV, so it’s harder for me to judge nationally-produced :30 spots, but they almost certainly come from the same pablum factory.) Bilbray would be better off raising the money himself and relying solely on the product of his own consultants.
As far as Jimmy V.’s “rally round the nominee” rant goes, I’ve heard that old song too many times … and it’s no more believable when Jimmy sings it. I’m not convinced Bilbray is going to be the nefarious RINO that some (including our host) believe he’ll be, but I think it’s a shame in many ways that Roach didn’t run.
May 9th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Tony:
The NRCC paid for some great mail in 1980 to help Duncan Hunter defeat 18-year
incumbent Lionel Van Deerlin.
BUT the NRCC let a Californian, Harvey Hukari, create it.
This may be the exception that proves your rule!
May 10th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Jim,
You make my case! You said it was locally designed, therefore the creative came out of SD, not DC. I know you’ve got an encyclopedic brain, so it’s telling that the one example you’ve remembered in 26 years of campaigns is locally-designed mail.
Actually, your example suggests a wise course for the wonder boys and girls back East … outsource the creative to local/regional consultants who actually understand the districts the mail will go into, instead of running nationwide themes most voters don’t care about. The DC guys could still skim their cut and hand out their sweetheart deals on the commissions for production. But then, that would make too much sense.
May 10th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Tony:
I’m glad you enjoyed this example. But Harvey will haunt me
if I don’t point out he is a “No Cal” who excelled in driving
the SDS nuts at Stanford University back in the day.
He IS, however, a Californian, not someone from inside the Beltway.