Redstate

I live in the 2nd district so I didn't have to choose in this primary. But the 4th is a heavily D district where both Rs were likely to lose bad. It includes Chapel Hill and Durham. It is 21% black and has one of the most educated electorates in the country. It went 65-35 the last few elections.

I feel bad for Mr. Cho because he served as the GOP head in Orange County (Chapel Hill) and it would be nice to reward him for that thankless work. But I am very interested in seeing if Ron Paul Rs can compete in hostile territory. If this district is going to be a standard D or a Paul R, I'll take the Paul R.

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If he ran as the Libertarian he is I wouldn't have a (serious) issue with him.

Libertarians and Constitutionalists are honorable and great but their tactics with Republicans suck.

...a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right...

---Thomas Paine---

HOW does someone become a thirty-something NON PRACTICING neurosurgeon??? Shouldn't he be held to some ethical standard to practice? NOPE - BJ made a load of cash when he sold some software so he abandoned his ethical responsibility to practice as a doctor and now he's blowing his dough on furthering the RP agenda. A dude who never attended a GOP event in his life before he decided to run for Congress. He's NOT going to beat Price - give me a break. This is all for nothing.

....a well connected conservative Republican with many connections in the district, and someone who was formerly a local GOP chair. Larson must have something going for him.

“.....women and minorities hardest hit”

But first of all....his name is LAWSON - how much can you possibly dig this guy (or know about him) if you don't know his name?

Second, I answered your question below in my reply "He Won Because"

That LAWSON was backed by the Party. He was NOT. High ranking NC Republicans encouraged him to run as the Libertarian that he is. He was backed by his 105K he personally sunk into this election. Not Party funds or encouragement. 4th District and 4th District County leadership have now RESIGNED because of this travesty.

What does LAWSON have going for him (Seriously - you need to learn about this guy - your constant mispronunciation of his name tell me you haven't)? MONEY and a nasty (look at the following link)RP following. He won with MONEY and a very deliberate RP agenda effort:
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=136548

The guy ran in a GOP primary and won 70% of the vote. Rs should want libertarian Rs as much as conservative Rs. If they can win primaries, they have every right to run as Rs. Do Rs really want pro-life, small government candidates fleeing the Party?

It's a big tent and Ron Paul followers are obviously a small minority. But I'd prefer that 5% of the country to be part of the R tent than the D tent or sitting home. And if they want to run in some of the hopeless districts, more power to them.

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He has cash - and as a Mitt fan I don't fault him for that AT ALL ;)

He spent a SICK amount of personal money (again- not faulting him for that) and another 25 grand that came form RP fans around the country who all want to see the RP agenda get to Congress - NOT the GOP platform.

He also had huge organization from the young Ron Paul followers.

AGAIN - not faulting him - but that's why he had a tremendous presence and won BIGTIME.

Cho had party activists and mommies like me in minivans who are spread thin. Like I said, we are working with a GOP leadership that lacks organization itself.

But if he has more money and more organization AND Rs are likely to lose no matter what, I think it will be an interesting experiment to see if he can win over some voters that a traditional R couldn't. This is not a district that a traditional R can win. Maybe (but probably not) a "Ron Paul Republican" can do better. Now we get to find out.

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It's ripping the Party apart - SERIOUS betrayals (I'll spare RS the nasty and ridiculous details)- and wasting our resources!

We should be spending Republican time building the base that is COMING as our area grows rapidly and fills up with Republicans! We should be spending our resources on building on embracing true Rs. Not playing games in a race we are NOT going to win.

"who all want to see the RP agenda get to Congress - NOT the GOP platform."

I've spent a LOT (too much) time at digg and lurking at their forums; they have no intention of being Republicans at all.

Meanwhile, we have conservatives who are threatening to bolt because John McCain, a LEGITIMATE Republican, is the nominee, because they're afraid of the GOP being less conservative.

I'm sorry, but Ron Paul paleolibertarianism is not where I want the GOP to go. I'm all for the "big tent," but if we're going to be a big tent, consistency would help. We can't say NO to John McCain (a very, very legitimate and mainstream Republican who is very much in line with the GOP, despite what some of our fellow conservatives would say) and say YES to John Birch Society/Lew Rockwell paleos.

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~ Beth ~

Lew Rockwell makes my skin crawl even worse then Paul.

"I will look for people in the cast of John Roberts, Samuel Alito, and my friend the late William Rehnquist – jurists of the highest caliber who know their own minds, and know the law, and know the difference." - John McCain

...a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right...

---Thomas Paine---

He's probably the guy behind all of the racist stuff that Paul "didn't read." Even if not, the guy is a certifiable nutjob. He's the kind of guy that'll say something that sounds perfectly reasonable at first, until you find out what it means to him.

"I will look for people in the cast of John Roberts, Samuel Alito, and my friend the late William Rehnquist – jurists of the highest caliber who know their own minds, and know the law, and know the difference." - John McCain