In the last few years, grassroots Republicans have directed a lot of their anger at the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), and it’s sister organization on the House side - the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). These organizations have unfortunately developed a reputation for two things: shutting down “new blood” candidates in GOP primaries against “old bull” incumbents and sinking GOP candidates by runnning overly nasty smear campaigns against Democrats.
I personally find this to be a travesty, as I think the NRSC and NRCC are two of the most valuable organizations we have. They are supposed to be the ones finding ”new blood”, and talking the best candidates into running. We need them more than ever in the next few years, and there are a few races in 2010 where they have major openings to both pick up seats and rehabilitate their reputation. So, I want to lay out a few suggestions as to how the the NRSC can “get its groove back” quickly and hopefully provide a model of the NRCC to follow.
Specifically, I want to look at two races - one where the NRSC is involved and shouldn’t be and one where they aren’t involved and should be.
First, the Crist-Rubio showdown in Florida. Crist seemingly has a commanding early lead - but Rubio is quickly consolidating a big following in the conservative movement. Personally, I’m a Rubio guy - but I’m also a realist. This is Crist’s race to lose at the moment, and he doesn’t need the NRSC’s help. Furthermore, he has a major image problem with non-Floridian Republicans. I’m not going to call on the NRSC to drop it’s endorsement - what’s done is done - but they would be well served to de-emphasize that race and move on to places where they are needed. Crist can win without them - and they don’t need to get involved in a big-ticket primary between two strong candidates.
On the other hand, the race to unseat Michael Bennet in Colorado is in desperate need of NRSC involvement. The Senator is highly vulnerable, but the GOP is not getting electable candidates in the race. Right now, we merely have and amateur-hour primary between Weld County D.A. Ken Buck (Oh dear…) and Aurora City Councilman Ryan Frazier (Oy vey…). Nothing against either of these men - but the campaign so far has shown that neither is going to take down even the most vulnerable Democrat. The NRSC actually cited the pickup opportunity in Colorado as a race that they could help with if Crist wins in Florida - but no amout of NRSC money is going to win Colorado if they don’t help us find a candidate now!
So, let’s forget about the Florida fracas, let bygones be bygones, and start using the NRSC for what it was made for - scouting out quality new candidates, talking them into the race, and making sure they win. In Colorado, they have the opportunity to totally resphape the race by pushing Major General Bentley Rayburn in, introducing his spectacular record of acheivement to the voters (how many candidates have managed a $17 billion military budget?), and making sure that he gets connected to national bigwigs who can bankroll him to victory. Seriously - how do you lose with a guy like this? Just give him a budget, wind him up, and watch him make mincemeat of Senator Bennet...
...and if you don't want the general, go pound down John Elway's door or something. Just give us a candidate!
So - this is how the NRSC and NRCC need to be operating in order to heal the rift with the base. These organizations are sorely needed in today's political situation, and there is an opening for them to go from zeroes to heroes very quickly if they allocate their resources properly. Let's forget about the large-scale brouhahas like the Crist-Rubio circus and get the Bentley Rayburns of the world into the races where Democrats are gaining a false sense of security. That is how we can move forward to victory in 2010 and beyond.
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Adam the limb you're going out on here placing any hope in the NRSC/NRCC is its own damn tree.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of embarrassing when Crist and Graham get on board with the liberals and talk about how America has "compromised its principles" in the war on terror when compromising principles is EXACTLY how these clowns are getting/will get elected. I don't know if Beck endorses any of these non-conservative Rockefellers like Crist but if he does I'm done with him. He was probably the first one to renounce his support of Bush as an 'us vs them' thing but here he goes and he's back to it.
There's a reason that nobody could stand McCain prior to 8/29/08 (which had nothing to do with his birthday btw). One of the reasons was his tired "We've lost our way/principles" blah blah, when principles obviously don't even apply. John Cornyn and Orrin Hatch can kiss my ass. After all, the most visible GOP senator in the last few years (other than McCain) has been Arlen Specter, how'd that work out again?
Fact is, we need a serious cleansing of the Senate and Congress (I'm proud to report that Cathy's learning her lesson, then again Chambliss supposedly learned his so we'll see) for the NRSC/NRCC to get it. Frankly, the Mariners have a better shot of winning the World Series.
You have to stand for something, even (god forbid) in defeat. The old "winning is everything" adage is fine if you're continually running Vince Lombardi's Packers out there. Trouble is, you're trotting out the 2008 Lions. On the other side, liberals don't really stand for anything, but the electorate is faced with liberal vs liberal-lite the liberal wins every time. 2006 and 2008 was NOT a repudiation of conservatism, it was a repudiation that there WASN'T any to be found!
So if the NRSC and NRCC are that valuable, they should really prove their worth.
As an acute, experienced political observer here in Colorado, I have to say your observation about our state is way off base. There is no desperate situation. We definitely do not need interfrence from the NRSC. It would be bad news!
ReplyDeleteYour link after Ryan Frazier actually undermines your argument -- as it comes from the state's most prominent Democrat blog. They are scared of Frazier for good reason. Search around some of these sites, and find out what non-Democrat blogs are saying about him. A good place to start?:
http://peoplespresscollective.org
12thman,
ReplyDeleteI agree with all your points. That is why I get tired of the Powell liberal Republicans complain how the GOP is to conservative. The problem is that they became to liberal on the economy in the Bush years. The GOP can only win by being conservative. When they run as moderate's or liberals they lose.