Say no to incumbents and yes to primary challengers.
By aaronbg Posted in 2008 — Comments (13) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Say no to incumbents and yes to primary challengers.
The percentage of voters who give Congress good or excellent ratings has fallen to single digits for the first time in Rasmussen Reports tracking history. This month, just 9% say Congress is doing a good or excellent job. Most voters (52%) say Congress is doing a poor job, which ties the record high in that dubious category.
So begins the Rasmussen Reports™ Article on Congressional approval ratings, linked here
Now I am not a member of Rasmussen so I don't get to see the internals but here are some of the stats that were in the article.
Of the Democrats polled only 13% say that the congress they elected in 2006 are doing a good job. That is a 4 point drop in the last month
Of the Republicans polled this number drops to 8% up 1 point in the last month.
Independents...well only 3% rated the congress positively a 3 point drop.
Additionally 62% of those polled feel the congress has done nothing to improve their lives and 55% don't believe that any change is on the horizon.
So what does this mean? Will the electorate possibly wake up this year and change the guard?
I for one am trying to help change the guard. One way that I am doing this is by supporting primary challengers in my CD. I am in CO 5th CD and there are 2 challengers to the incumbent Doug Lamborn. The challengers are Bentley Rayburn and Jeff Crank.
I have already thrown my support to Jeff Crank from what I have read about him on his site and in the local papers he would be the TrueConservative™ in the race. Bentley Rayburn would be the Rockefeller Repub™. I am not going to mention Doug Lamborn because this post is about getting rid of the incumbents.
We the people have an opportunity to effect change this election season. Now I am not talking about the lofty hope filled change like the Obamatons, I am talking about a changing of the guard. With the approval ratings of the congress as a whole now being in single digits for the first time in history, we, the electorate have an opportunity. The country is not mad at Dems or Repubs...it is mad at incumbents. We have all discussed term limits for our congress so I believe now is the time for us to enforce term limits by our vote.
Above I have listed the primary challengers for the CO 5th CD and links to their respective campaign pages. Please take a look and discuss the candidates on the issues. As well if you have a primary challenger in your CD please list their site and let all of us here at RedState know where they stand and where you stand.
It's time for the incumbents to go home and make room for the next generation of legislators.
Aaron Boyd Gardner
I'm doing what I can!
I'm in a state of people who vote conservative for federal congress, but keep electing democrats in our state!
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Dependence is Slavery.
Political Compass
Economic Left/Right: 7.12
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 1.85
The point I am trying to make is that we have a 50 state network here on RedState and we need to start using that to our advantage. If I can throw a few dollars out to multiple primary challengers in different states then maybe we can raise the profile of these primary challengers and get rid of the same old incumbents. I don't even care at this point if its a conservative dem versus a lib. I am willing to help drive the dems to the right by supporting conservative dem primary challengers in blue states. But the point is that until we start sharing the load here on RedState we aren't using RedState to it's full potential, and I am not waiting for the state pages in RS3.0 this needs to be done now. The primary here in CO 5th CD is August 15th. Debates between the challengers and incumbent are this week. Now is the time for action. /End Rant
"Land of the Free and Home of da Whopper" Peter Griffin...Family Guy
conform and celebrate diversity....or else!!!
Steel-Belted Radial Right Winger
Everyone should research the candidates in their CD and state and say which dems/repubs are conservatives, and then post about them here on RS.
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4.62, 0.51
I believe that all of the spots in my area have 2 people running (that I know of).
Problem is, for some of the lower seats, you don't have affiliation.
I saw two commercials in a row, last night, for the same position. Both claimed to be conservative christian people who will put the needs and will of the people of Oklahoma first.
From the commercials, it looks like I'll be picking between Jack Johnson and John Jackson. (Futurama reference)
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Dependence is Slavery.
Political Compass
Economic Left/Right: 7.12
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 1.85
...Have you brought it up in a forum on RedState....this is what I am talking about. We have a voice here on RedState...we can bring to the attention of the Directors who we support and why, we can do the leg work to parse the challengers stances and hopefully present to the Directors options for them to throw their support behind. This is my 3rd or 4th mention of Jeff Crank. I am trying to get him supported by RedState, I have even emailed Jeff Crank and asked him to get on RedState and present himself and ask for our support. Hopefully someday I will see one of those front page articles asking all the RedStaters to donate to Jeff Crank and similar challengers across the nation.
"Land of the Free and Home of da Whopper" Peter Griffin...Family Guy
conform and celebrate diversity....or else!!!
Steel-Belted Radial Right Winger
No, but I only just heard their names a night or two ago.
County Commissioner I believe was the position they are up for.
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Dependence is Slavery.
Political Compass
Economic Left/Right: 7.12
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 1.85
Todd Akin is one of the most reliable conservative House members in the chamber - a perfect 100 in the 2007 ACU ratings.
Now I'm all for kicking out Claire from the Senate, but I'm afraid she has a few more years left in her term.
The Unofficial RedState FAQ
“You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say. ” - Martin Luther
...but eventually that apple will spoil as well unless we remove the bad apples now. If you are happy with your incumbent and he/she is safe then I urge you to support a primary challenger not in your state. Your 1 good guy isn't gonna be very effective if there is no one else for him to caucus with. This is a team effort with the individual states just being different positions on the field. We need a team win...after all not even Kobe Bryant could secure the NBA championship by himself.
"Land of the Free and Home of da Whopper" Peter Griffin...Family Guy
conform and celebrate diversity....or else!!!
Steel-Belted Radial Right Winger
See, I thought that giving money to candidates from other states started to get into the grey area of the campaign finance reform laws.
I thought one couldn't get interstate money. Isn't that what they blasted DeLay over?
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Dependence is Slavery.
Political Compass
Economic Left/Right: 7.12
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 1.85
But you don't have to just give money. We all know there are many other ways to show support. But more to the point is increasing exposure for these challengers. The exposure is worth more sometimes than the actual donations.
"Land of the Free and Home of da Whopper" Peter Griffin...Family Guy
conform and celebrate diversity....or else!!!
Steel-Belted Radial Right Winger
It is indeed!
Duncan Hunter's campaign is a clear example of the inability to compete with free press, no matter the money raised.
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Dependence is Slavery.
Political Compass
Economic Left/Right: 7.12
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 1.85
2010 is a census year...now is the time to clean house.
Charlie Gonzales is my congressman and I'm happy if to simply have a Republican in the primaries to vote for...I and others are working on something for 2010 to dump some incumbents...I'll reserve comment about that till after the election this time around.
Ensign is right...Republicans should be running scared...but not because the Dems and Indies are out for their heads...The need to watch their backs because they're about to have the shanks they've used on Conservatives returned to them with a vengeance!
http://meandmyilk.blogtownhall.com/
Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.--Ronald Wilson Reagan
I know the CO 5th CD is not the only Republican primary going on out there. Where are all the posters who complain about their incumbents. Come on, people we need to get to the dirty work of getting Republicans elected and that starts in our primaries. I want to know from you all who I can send money to. Read the article above and think about the opportunity we have in front of us. If you aren't willing to stand up now and speak then you best be prepared to sit down and shut up later.
"Land of the Free and Home of da Whopper" Peter Griffin...Family Guy
conform and celebrate diversity....or else!!!
Steel-Belted Radial Right Winger