Tuesday, November 3, 2009

GOP Wins In VA and NJ!!


Congrats to Bob McDonnell on becoming Governor of Virginia and Chris Christie on becoming the Govenor of New Jersey!

However, we're still waiting for the results of the NY-23 district race to see if Hoffman defeats Owens. From what I'm seeing on the television news right now, it doesn't appear likely that Hoffman will win.

The NY-23 election is noteworthy because grassroots conservatives fought against the GOP elite by rallying around Hoffman forcing Dede Scozzafava to resign and the GOP establishment to back Hoffman.

However, if Hoffman loses the election, it will appear that the grass root conservatives have enough clout defeat the GOP insider's candidates to but may not have enough clout to win elections.

It will also be bad news for such high profile conservatives such as former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, and former presidential candidate Steve Forbes who broke rank with the GOP elite and supported Hoffman rather than Scozzafava.

Many conservatives were particularly upset that Newt Gingrich backed Scozzafava and proclaimed that it was a embarrassment his part for endorsing her. But in the end, if Hoffman loses, the egg will be on the faces of Palin and the rebellious conservatives rather than the GOP establishment.

However, the grass-roots insurrection against the Republican Party may have lost the battle in NY-23 tonight but war between the GOP elite and the tea party conservatives has just begun as they begin to line up candidates to run against the Republican candidates in other midterm elections:
Conservatives are already planning to replicate their efforts in at least two U.S. Senate races – in California, where Chuck DeVore is challenging establishment candidate Carly Fiorina in the race to oust Barbara Boxer – and in Florida, where former House Speaker Marco Rubio is challenging Gov. Charlie Crist in the race to replace the retiring Mel Martinez.
The list of conservatives running against GOP backed candidates is growing. In Illinois, Eric Wallace, a conservative GOP candidate, is withdrawing his primary bid for Illinois' U.S. Senate and potentially re-entering the race as an Independent to challenge Rep. Mark Kirk who is supported by the Republican Party.

The most important lesson we can take from the NY-23 race comes from Erick Erickson, the editor of the conservative blog RedState.com is this:
"The establishment has now learned it can be beaten from within its own base . . . If the GOP wants to fight the base in California and Florida, game on."

He added, rhetorically: "Do they want that?"

No comments:

Post a Comment