The Insignificance of the CPAC Straw Poll

The enthusiasm at this year’s CPAC was palpable.  Conservatives turned out in record droves, optimistic and on the offensive against a government they rightly feel has run amok.  Dick Cheney and John Bolton amongst others predicted that Barack Obama would be a one term President.  I would take a more cautious view.  Beatable as I think President Obama is based upon his bombastic arrogance, blind elitism, blatant dishonesty, and boundless seemingly intentionally destructive policies, if the 2010 CPAC straw poll tells us anything it is that the conservative movement is still searching for its opponent.

Before delving into the numbers, it is important to note that while roughly 1/4 of the 10,000 in attendance at CPAC participated in the poll, around 50% of these voters were students.  And indeed the youthful Campaign for Liberty crowd was highly visible and energized throughout the convention, which explains the extent of Congressman Ron Paul’s success.  Paul, the staunch libertarian came in first with 31% of the vote, Mitt Romney the establishment candidate second with 22% and Sarah Palin the (absent from CPAC) Tea Partier third but lagging significantly behind at 7%.

What is fascinating about the results is that the top three spots were split between three different types of conservatives, and further that the top two spots were divided between two candidates so bipolar.  In my view, Ron Paul comes off as unrefined, radical and principled, while Mitt Romney comes off as polished, moderate and slickly political. Sarah Palin alternatively is the homey if not hokie populist.

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Tags: Ann Coulter, Barack Obama, Congress, conservatives, CPAC
Posted Feb 22nd 2010 at 7:01 am in Uncategorized | 77846258 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/amellon/2010/02/22/the-insignificance-of-the-straw-poll/The+Insignificance+of+the+CPAC+Straw+Poll2010-02-22+15%3A01%3A06Andrew+Mellon

The People of Massachusetts Are Taking Back Their Seats

The Scott Brown revolution is alive and well in Massachusetts.

Tuesday night, January 26th at 7:00 when most people would like to be home relaxing after work, almost 500 average citizens from Massachusetts packed a convention hall in the Boston suburb of Braintree. They shared some common interests. They’re either running for office or helping someone else run for office. Some of them are running for federal or state offices, some for seats in local towns and cities and some for school boards. The one sentiment they share is clear: They’ve had enough.

A capacity crowd!

The event they showed up for was a “candidate school” offered by Boston talk radio host Michael Graham of 96.9 WTKK, a man the Boston Phoenix dubbed “Boston’s maestro of conservative controversies.” In between his tenure at WTKK and a career in stand-up comedy, Graham ran political campaigns. Today, he is sharing his knowledge with the citizens of the Bay State and encouraging them to participate in the system.

Attendees included people like Francis McLaughlin, a retired Boston fire fighter and registered Republican since 1975. McLaughlin is running for the Massachusetts House of Representatives for specific reasons:

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Tags: Boston, Democrats, exclusive, government, Independents
Posted Feb 3rd 2010 at 7:27 am in Exclusives, News, Politics, State Politics, Tea Party | 6825055 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mlachance/2010/02/03/the-people-of-massachusetts-are-taking-back-their-seats/The+People+of+Massachusetts+Are+Taking+Back+Their+Seats2010-02-03+15%3A27%3A27Mike+LaChance

Republicans Win Their Seat At The Table – They Should Bring C-Span With Them

PREDICTION:

The Republicans are going to suddenly have that seat at the table, now that the Progressives can’t ram their agenda through unilaterally.

Republicans should demand to bring C-SPAN with them to the table in a non-partisan effort to help the President fulfill his campaign promise.

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Tags: C-SPAN, health care, Republicans, Speaker Pelosi, Video
Posted Jan 20th 2010 at 1:41 pm in Congress, Obama, Politics | 62858105 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/amarcus/2010/01/20/republicans-win-their-seat-at-the-table-they-should-bring-c-span-with-them/Republicans+Win+Their+Seat+At+The+Table+-+They+Should+Bring+C-Span+With+Them2010-01-20+21%3A41%3A04Andrew++Marcus

The Real Meaning of New Jersey, and Virginia and New York 23

A message was sent to both the Republican and Democrat parties yesterday at polling stations across America, especially on the east coast. The perennially blue New Jersey now has a Republican Governor-elect. In Virginia, Republicans swept the top three spots in state office with Bob McDonnell winning that state’s gubernatorial race. Virginia was the coveted swing state last time around, a state that Keith Olberman cited as an example of permanent change. Interestingly enough, in exit poll questions asking voters why they chose the folks they chose were answered with one word: “change.”

New York’s hotly contested 23rd district was of epic soap opera proportions, a problem which is the direct result of party loyalists inability to see past their own navels. On October 16th I launched DumpDede.com and together with Bill Hennessy, held a last-minute presser (drive-bys and party hacks ignored that it was given on six hours’ notice and tried to use the crowd size as a way to neutralize the scope and power of the movement) and called on the GOP to dump the RINOs and support conservative Doug Hoffman. I heard “politics is local.” Absolutely – and when it is a federal congressional seat, a seat with a vote that could be the tiebreaker on legislation that could affect us all, the boundaries that separate districts and states fade away.

If you insert “conservatism” whenever you hear Doug Hoffman’s name, you get the point.

That’s not what the race was about.

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Tags: Democrats, Doug Hoffman, gop, New Jersey, ny23
Posted Nov 4th 2009 at 1:02 pm in Featured Story, State Politics, Tea Party | 25594163 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dloesch/2009/11/04/the-real-meaning-of-new-jersey-and-virginia-and-new-york-23/The+Real+Meaning+of+New+Jersey%2C+and+Virginia+and+New+York+232009-11-04+20%3A02%3A57Dana+Loesch

73% of GOP Voters Say Congressional Republicans Have Lost Touch With Their Base

President Obama told an audience at a Democratic Party fundraiser Wednesday night that Republicans often “do what they’re told,” but GOP voters don’t think their legislators listen enough to them.

Just 15% of Republicans who plan to vote in 2012 state primaries say the party’s representatives in Congress have done a good job of representing Republican values.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 73% think Republicans in Congress have lost touch with GOP voters from throughout the nation. Twelve percent (12%) are undecided.
These numbers are basically unchanged from a survey in late April.

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Tags: Barack Obama, Congressional Republicans, Democrat Party, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney
Posted Oct 23rd 2009 at 5:30 am in News, Obama, Politics | 2007831 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/10/23/73-of-gop-voters-say-congressional-republicans-have-lost-touch-with-their-base/73%25+of+GOP+Voters+Say+Congressional+Republicans+Have+Lost+Touch+With+Their+Base2009-10-23+12%3A30%3A14Publius