Vernon Parker was trained by one of the most legendary campaign strategists in American history.
“The first time I met him, he said, ‘Hey, you got a job?’ — with that South Carolina accent — I said, ‘No, not yet.’ He said, ‘Well, come on over here and let me introduce ya to some folks.'”
The man with the Carolina drawl was none other than the late Lee Atwater, who ran the campaign that elected George H.W. Bush president in 1988 and who served as chairman of the Republican National Committee before his death in 1991. “He gave me my first start in politics,” said Parker, a Texas native who is 50 but looks much younger. Nearly 25 years after beginning his political career, he still speaks of the lessons he learned from his first mentor. “It is a fight… It is a war. And I will take all the tools that my friend Lee Atwater taught me and we’ll deploy with my team and fight to take this country back.” . . .
The Daily Caller reports that a DailyKos poll puts McCain over Hayworth in the Arizona Republican Senate Primary race. The lack of detail makes the entire exercise sketchy, and the final DC quotation even moreso:
The liberal site put it this way: “The bottom line? The Democrats become competitive, if Hayworth somehow manages to score a victory in the GOP primary.”
Others, seeing McCain’s bona RINO fides, might consider the Dem’s position a win-win at the primary stage. Whoever the Dems field has to face Barbara Espinosa, to which this blog opines: it hurts to be the Dem.
UPDATE (RSM): OK, via Real Clear Politics I’ve found the DKos poll, and the numbers are:
This result is buried among a slew of hypothetical fall matchups, all of which show either Republican leading any of four possible Democrats candidates — Bruce Babbitt, Gabrielle Giffords, Rodney Glassman and Nan Stockholm Walden. The other interesting result is that 46% of those polled have an unfavorable opinion of John McCain, compared to 42% unfavorable for J.D. Hayworth.
The DKos/Research 2000 poll follows a Rasmussen Reports poll two weeks ago that showed McCain’s lead over Hayworth had eroded to 7 points (48-41) and I don’t know that the two surveys can be compared. R2000 surveyed 400 GOP primary voters, whereas Rasmussen sampled 541 and there are enough other differences in methodology that it might be apples and oranges.
The unfortunate tendency to over-interpret public polling — to grab the latest result and shout, “Eureka!” — is something that all pollsters caution against. That is especially true when you’re polling several months ahead of the election. The Arizona primary is not until Aug. 24, and the general election is not until Nov. 2, and the question of who people would vote for “if the election were held today” is a hypothetical that is not — repeat, is not — a prediction of what will actually happen on Election Day.
Doug from Reno was standing about 50 yards from the stage at Saturday’s “Showdown in Searchlight,” two hours before the official noon start of the rally featuring Sarah Palin. He was part of a huge crowd already gathering for the big first-day event of the Tea Party Express tour, and U.S. Highway 95 was backed up for more than a mile in either direction as thousands more made their way into the dusty lot a couple miles north of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s hometown.
He was wearing a National Rifle Association cap and mirrored sunglasses, and had a sticker on his shirt promoting a conservative website, DumpReid.com. Doug held aloft a large hand-lettered sign: “Karl Marx and Mao Were Not Founding Fathers!”
So far as most major media organizations are concerned, he was just another dangerous right-wing crackpot, but most major media organizations never actually talked to Doug or others like him among the thousands of grassroots activists who showed up in Searchlight. With few exceptions, what brought reporters to Saturday’s rally was the opportunity to do what they have been doing in their Tea Party coverage for more than a year: Highlight negative “gotcha” moments to discredit the movement as a dangerous collection of hate-filled, misinformed lunatics, meanwhile asking attendees questions along the lines of, “Who do you consider to be the leader of your movement?” . . .
Please read the whole thing. Actually meeting and talking to people is so much more productive than treating them as superficial stereotypes. It’s also a lot more fun.
I’m now blogging from the Arizona home of Barbara Espinosa, whom I first met in August at the Right Online conference in Pittsburgh. When I first met Barbara, I was surprised to learn she was a blogger (see “Grandma Is an Angry Mob“) and I had no idea that she was such a well-know activist. She’s on a first-name basis with Senate candidate J.D. Hayworth and congressional candidate Vernon Parker, both of whom I’ll be interviewing later today in Phoenix.
It was the tip-jar hitters — contributors to the Shoe Leather Fund — who sent me to that Pittsburgh conference where I first met Barbara, and the tip-jar hitters have since sent me to Kentucky, New York, Florida, Alabama, California, Massachusetts, Alabama, and now to Nevada and Arizona.
Saturday in Vegas, after I got back from Searchlight, I was talking with a reporter from a major news organization who was amazed that this kind of reader-supported journalism is possible. And it’s only possible because of you — the few, the proud, the tip-jar hitters. Thanks for all you do.
BUMPED & UPDATED! SUNDAY MARCH 28: We were linked by Her Blondeness yesterday. Unfortunately, security at the Vegas event was so tight that I didn’t get to say “Hello” to her, although I did get to wave at her personal bodyguard, Floyd — shortly before two Las Vegas police officers pulled me aside and frisked me for weapons.
To explain: There was a “no media” policy at the Vegas event — absolutely no reporters allowed inside, and no audio or video recording permitted. Event organizers had not been told to make an exception for Miss Coulter’s personal friends (I scored an e-mail interview with her last week), and so I was forced to resort to pure gonzo methods. Hiding my press credentials in my pocket and tucking my notebook under my arm inside my coat, I stood in line for general admission and prayed I didn’t get searched at the gate.
Alan Choate from the Las Vegas Review-Journal did the same thing, as did at least one other reporter for a major news organization whose identity I cannot reveal due to the admittedly bizarre ethical obligations of our mutual craft). However, I can reveal that I managed to get close to the stage before Ann’s speech, until one of the event volunteers told me I had to leave the “VIP” area. Drat.
When the speech started, I had my digital micro-recorder going (hidden in my hand, which I kept down by my right side) and moved as close to the stage as I could without infringing the “VIP” zone. Floyd the bodygard was at stage left with a wire in his ear, and I managed to catch his attention by waving. That was just about the time my posture and my erratic movements attracted the attention of two LVPD officers. From their vantage point, it looked from a certain angle as if I might have a gun, and I was escorted to the back of the amphitheater where I was beaten with nightsticks, pepper-sprayed and repeatedly tasered . . .
Just kidding. Although I was scared out of my wits, fearing that I would be ejected and my recorder confiscated, once I flashed my press credentials and the cops learned that the bulge in my coat wasn’t a 9mm in a shoulder holster — that I was merely a journalist, not a dangerously deranged psycho like Dylan Ratigan or Keith Olbermann — they lightened up considerably and apologized for the inconvenience.
As a matter of fact, the police never even saw the digital recorder, which I managed to hide in my pocket before they could frisk me, and the recorder was on throughtout my frightening ordeal, so that the entire incident is now preserved on digital audio. I haven’t uploaded or transcribed the audio yet, but when I do you’ll cleary hear one of the cops ask me, “Is that a digital recorder in your pocket . . . or are you just happy to see Ann Coulter?”
Grassroots Nevada is pleased to present Ann Coulter for our Saturday, March 27th event in Henderson / Las Vegas. . . .
Ms. Coulter will only be here in Henderson at the Grassroots Nevada event prior to the arrival of the Tea Party Express. The event for Las Vegas will be at the Henderson Pavilion; Gates open at 3:15 pm and show begins at 3:45 pm!
Join us for the biggest Tea Party Express national tour to date. Starting March 27, 2010 with a Mega Rally in Searchlight, NV (hometown to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid) we will take this message across the nation all the way to the White House in Washington, D.C. on April 15th:
“You, the politicians in Washington, have failed We The People with your bailouts, out-of-control deficit spending, government takeovers of sectors of the economy, Cap & Trade, government-run health care, and higher taxes! If you thought we were just going to quietly go away, or that this tea party movement would be just a passing fad, you were mistaken. We’re taking our country back!”
Here’s the video:
OK, people, here we go. I’ve been planning a trip out West to cover the Senate campaigns against Harry Reid and John McCain, and this chance is too perfect to miss.
This is the kind of journalistic expedition that the Shoe Leather Fund has made possible in the past. It’s 2,341 miles to Searchlight, Nev. — 38 hours if I were to drive it non-stop — but Smitty tells me that flights to Vegas are cheap, so maybe I’ll leave the 2004 KIA Optima at home for this trip. Driving or flying, either way it looks like an extraordinarily gonzo trip.
We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like “I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive….” And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas. . . . — Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
The interesting crosscurrents in the contest are seemingly endless. Mr. Parker appears to enjoy support from the same people getting behind former Representative J. D. Hayworth, who is challenging Senator John McCain in the Republican primary with a hard right elbow to the ribs.
“I love J. D. and Vernon,” said Barbara Espinosa, who was attending a recent rally for Mr. Hayworth here. “He’s calm, he’s collected and he’s conservative. I know Vernon Parker. I don’t know Ben Quayle.”
