Governor Sarah Palin wasn’t all that pleased about it, but the McCain campaign’s recent decision to pull resources out of Michigan may not have been all that surprising, given the fact the state has a fairly high minority population and is heavily unionized. Even though the poll margins aren’t all that great, apparently the Senator’s forces are concerned about their limited resources since they didn’t break a promise to accept public financing like Barack Obama did.
But Palin is willing to fight for the state and so is another grassroots group I’ve been pleased to support. They, too, want to “Save Michigan” and its 17 electoral votes. (Something tells me Ohio State fans may like their graphic too.) Their goal is to raise $500,000 to buy anti-Obama television ads in the state, and they wanted to do it in 48 hours (when I wrote this they were about halfway there – not bad.) Even the state’s main newspaper has taken notice of the bid. And it’s worth noting that the person who advised the Obama/Biden ticket on how to sell those same failed liberal policies that put Michigan in a one-state recession in their debate prep was none other than the “Tax Queen” herself, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, who played the mock debate role of Gov. Sarah Palin.
Living in a state and next to another that seemingly long ago was abandoned to the wolves of the Obama campaign, I can feel Michigan’s rank-and-file Republican pain. In part, we in this area of the country are getting out to vote for McCain simply to give him an overall majority in the national popular vote because our votes will likely be swamped by those in urban areas as far as our state totals go. However, we still have a reason to show up November 4th because we also need to make sure we vote for effective representation in Congress, too. And since Governor Palin only has so many hours in the day and does have to tend to Alaskan business once in awhile, I doubt she’s going to step up and fight on our behalf so we in Maryland (and Delaware) will have to do it all ourselves, without the outside help. (Of course, if we can get enough contributions in perhaps the anti-Obama tour could extend east to our area. I still hold out the glimmer of hope Sarah will show up in real life, too – as opposed to a cardboard cutout.)
I had something else I thought was interesting about states helping each other out. As many of you know because it’s become a side issue in our Congressional race, the Club For Growth has supported Congressional aspirant Andy Harris in the contest. Since I am a member of that group (I couldn’t beat the price and I, too, support most of their aims) I get solicitations like this one:
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is looking to pack the next Congress with dozens of tax and spend liberal minions to serve as rubber stamps for Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s agenda.
To do this, they are working to defeat as many fiscally conservative Republicans as possible. They call this their “Red to Blue” program – turning Republican “red” seats into Democratic “blue” ones.
One Republican on their target list is Rep. Bill Sali.
In 2006, Club for Growth supporters helped Idaho rebel Bill Sali win a crowded Republican primary and then a tough general election in Idaho’s First Congressional District. Bill Sali promised to take his tough-talking, fiscally conservative bravado to Washington and drive the liberals crazy. He did not disappoint.
Over the past two years, Rep. Sali was elected president of the Republican freshman class, fought for lower taxes, voted against outrageous pork projects, and successfully challenged a federal agency when it wanted to start an anti-private property marketing campaign. He got the 9th best score in the House in the Club’s rating of Congress and also earned one of the top marks in our RePork Card rating on pork barrel spending.
In this case, I didn’t send anything to Bill Sali’s campaign but the parallels to our 1st CD race are fairly close – obviously this is a guy who has fought for smaller government and has a well-funded Democrat opponent this time. He’ll get hundreds of contributions bundled by the Club For Growth just as Andy Harris has.
On that note, this was the last Harris appeal from the Club For Growth. I thought they did a nice writeup and hopefully the financial cavalry will ride in to help Andy as well:
Remember Congressman Wayne Gilchrest? He is the so-called Republican that Andy Harris beat in the Maryland Republican primary, backed by $435,000 in donations from Club for Growth members.
Well, Gilchrest endorsed Andy Harris’s Democratic opponent. He is starring in campaign commercials for the Democrat airing right now.
It gets worse.
The Baltimore Sun newspaper reported September 19 that Gilchrest “strongly supported the Democratic presidential ticket in a radio interview aired yesterday.”
(A few) days ago, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) unleashed a massive ad buy unfairly attacking Andy Harris’s record in the Maryland Senate. If you watch Baltimore TV, you can’t miss the spots, they’re everywhere.
Help Andy raise the money he needs to fight back.
Between the DCCC and his Democratic opponent, Andy is being outgunned right now by nearly a 3 to 1 ratio on TV spots.
The National Republican Campaign Committee has little in the bank, so they may not be able to counter the DCCC.
Andrew Harris, a highly-regarded physician, has a consistent track record of fighting for limited government and pro-growth policies. Harris sponsored a repeal of the Maryland inheritance tax. In a demonstration of his principled independence, he voted against six state budgets, including ones proposed by a Republican governor.
Harris is a terrific candidate in person. He’s smart, articulate and has a long history of public service, including service in the U.S. Naval Reserve Medical Corps since 1988 and active service during Operation Desert Storm.
Harris would not only have a terrific voting record on economic issues, he would become a principled leader in the Republican caucus.
Please, let’s do everything we can to make sure Andy wins in November. (Emphasis mine.)
The reason I placed that emphasis was because it wasn’t special interests (like unions, or trial lawyer groups, or the big-government elitist crowd) who donated to the Club For Growth, it was ordinary everyday people like you and I. And yes, I’ve stroked a couple checks to Andy because to me he’s by far the better candidate here. It’s not even close. I tell people that Kratovil = O’Malley = Pelosi = Obama, all tax-and-spenders, none for reducing the size and scope of government. (So tell me, Kratovil supporters, what will your candidate cut in government?)
Some decry the amount of money that goes into politics and wonder aloud why people raise millions to take a job that pays less than $200,000 a year. (For many it’s a pay cut.) Believe it or not, there’s a lot of us who pay a little now in the hopes that we can keep more of what we have in both a financial and freedom sense later. To me, it’s an investment in my future and that of my daughter’s.
So today I picked a few examples of groups who go against the political grain and need the help for their ideas to prevail. Naturally there’s many groups on the other side of issues, but you have to wonder what’s in it for them at the government table. Those I like want to get the government off the back of all of us and deserve our support. I’m just helping in my little way where I can.
Since I’m originally from Bill Sali’s district, I can give a little perspective on this race. It’s interesting that you mention it and its similarities to our race. I was saying exactly the same thing to my grandfather last night when we talked. Sali’s district is a reliably conservative district. Sali is facing a Democrat who is running as a moderate or even a conservative (my grandfather says that Sali’s opponent is running a ton of TV ads in the North Idaho market that play him up as a conservative and note that he was a former Republican). Sali is a staunch conservative whose personality turns some people off. Sali’s opponent is very well funded by national Democrats. Put all these together and you face a race like we face with Andy — a seat that should be safe Republican hangs in the balance.
There are a couple differences. No one doubts that Andy’s a pretty smart guy. Sali has the reputation for not being the sharpest legislator, either in Congress or during his time in the state legislator. Sali also isn’t the favorite of Idaho’s GOP establishment, something that doesn’t seem to be the case with Andy.
In the end I think both Sali and Andy will win. I just think both races will be much, much closer than they should be.
I guarantee McCain will not win the popular vote. He may pull off the Electoral College vote, but I predict at least a 500,000 vote advantage for Obama, probably closer to one million. You read it here first.