Via Dell’s Bottom Line, it sounds like there is a bit of hope for a write-in opportunity here in the Old Dominion:
The last hope for Virginia conservatives to vote for one of their own in the March 6, 2012 presidential primary lies in the timely passage of state senator Frank W. Wagner’s SB 510 allowing write-in voting in that election.
By conservative, we mean those who believe the next president should be committed to the long march toward downsizing government and curtailing the administrative state, strengthening our Judeo-Christian culture, and maintaining a strong defense.
The bill is an emergency measure (see article IV, section 13 in foregoing link) requiring four-fifths approval in both chambers and the governor’s assent if it to take effect before the March 6 presidential primary.
Anecdotally, of the people I know who are paying attention to the GOP debates and such, the mood is to blow the GOP primary off entirely if it’s down to Romney or Paul. Of the two, I’m about 49% Romney and 51% Paul in my thinking, at least at the primary stage. Past experience has shown that there just isn’t a line at these primary affairs, so saving time isn’t a strong argument.
Given the opportunity for write-in, Santorum comes to mind. The wild follicle pines for Palin, though.
I’ve no idea whether the ’emergency’ measure can pass, but I’m not holding any breath for it.
Update: it may not merit a post in its own right, but I will now wish good vibes upon Rick Santorum via the PJ Media Shameless Contact Gathering ExerciseNostradamus contest, where you predict the Florida primary numbers.
Wearing my Florida shirt at the CNN Jacksonville debate,
Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012 (Photo by Dave Weigel)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla.
On his radio program today, Rush Limbaugh singled out Rick Santorum for his understanding that “ObamaCare is ballgame,” as Rush put it. Limbaugh referred to Santorum’s strong performance in Thursday’s CNN debate, going after Mitt Romney’s own record on health care:
SANTORUM: What Governor Romney just said is that government-run top-down medicine is working pretty well in Massachusetts and he supports it. Now, think about what that means —
ROMNEY: That’s not what I said.
SANTORUM: — going up against Barack Obama, who you are going to claim, well, top-down government-run medicine on the federal level doesn’t work and we should repeal it. And he’s going to say, wait a minute, Governor. You just said that top-down government-run medicine in Massachusetts works well.
Folks, we can’t give this issue away in this election. It is about fundamental freedom. Whether the United States government or even a state government — you have Amendment 1 (ph) here offered by Scott Pleitgen (ph), who, by the way, endorsed me today, and it’s going to be on your ballot as to whether there should be a government mandate here in Florida.
According to Governor Romney, that’s OK. If the state does it, that’s OK. If the state wants to enforce it, that’s OK. Those are not the clear contrasts we need if we’re going to defeat Barack Obama. . . .
SANTORUM: Does everybody in Massachusetts have a requirement to buy health care?
ROMNEY: Everyone has a requirement to either buy it or pay the state for the cost of providing them free care. Because the idea of people getting something for free when they could afford to care for themselves is something that we decided in our state was not a good idea. . . .
SANTORUM: Just so I understand this, in Massachusetts , everybody is mandated as a condition of breathing in Massachusetts , to buy health insurance, and if you don’t, and if you don’t, you have to pay a fine.
What has happened in Massachusetts is that people are now paying the fine because health insurance is so expensive. And you have a pre-existing condition clause in yours, just like Barack Obama.
So what is happening in Massachusetts, the people that Governor Romney said he wanted to go after, the people that were free-riding, free ridership has gone up five-fold in Massachusetts. Five times the rate it was before. Why? Because…
ROMNEY: That’s total, complete…
SANTORUM: I’ll be happy to give you the study. Five times the rate it has gone up. Why? Because people are ready to pay a cheaper fine and then be able to sign up to insurance, which are now guaranteed under “Romney-care,” than pay high cost insurance, which is what has happened as a result of “Romney-care.”
ROMNEY: First of all, it’s not worth getting angry about.
Limbaugh said it is worth getting angry about, and many Republican voters who watched last night’s debate are probably reconsidering whether the media’s predetermined Mitt-vs.-Newt frontrunner narrative is overlooking the possibility that neither Romney nor Gingrich is the best choice to take on Obama. One Florida Republican who sees Rick Santorum as the best hope for conservatives is Florida state Sen. Scott Plakon, who endorsed Santorum Thursday:
Scott Plakon said: “Rick Santorum is a man who has consistently shown that he can be trusted to stand by his deeply held conservative principles regardless of the way the political winds blow and will be a steady, even hand in leading America towards prosperity and liberty again.
“He has consistently shown that he is willing to make decisions not for the next election cycle, but for the next generation. That is exactly the kind of leader and values we need to confront the failed policies and leadership of the Obama administration and to return America to the shining city on a hill that President Reagan spoke of.”
I caught up with Plakon in the “spin room” after last night’s debate and asked him about his switch from backing Herman Cain to supporting Santorum:
Thursday’s debate, the 19th televised debate among Republican presidential candidates this year, certainly did not lack fireworks. And while many political junkies have become weary of watching these affairs, the event here on the campus of the University of North Florida may be as decisive as the South Carolina debates that were credited with helping Gingrich score a crucial win there Saturday. Polls this week in Florida show Romney pulling away, and the former Massachusetts governor had one of his best-ever debate performances Thursday, while Gingrich had one of his worst yet.
While arguments between the two Florida frontrunners got the biggest play, however, Thursday was also an impressive performance for former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. Polls show Santorum running a distant third in the Sunshine State, but he slammed both Gingrich and Romney for their previous stances on health care. . . .
Read the whole thing, although I confess it was written in a condition of complete exhaustion. CNN neglected to provide coffee in the filing center, and I also ran out of cigarettes before the debate ended. I managed to file my column by midnight, then came back to the hotel room, fell asleep about 2 a.m. and didn’t wake up until 10:30 a.m.
After remarks at Florida State University geared toward social conservatives, Santorum rolled out the endorsement of state Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood, a former top Herman Cain supporter. Plakon told reporters he chose Santorum for his conservatism, after Newt Gingrich’s recent “Obama style” ads turned Plakon off.
“We’re not going anywhere. We’re staying in this race for the long haul. I think we’re playing for the next states,” Santorum told reporters afterward.
Still, questions persisted because he’s not looking toward any celebration on Election Night. He will be in Florida on Sunday and Monday for events, including in Sarasota and Miami. No promises after that.
Said Santorum: “We’re just trying to figure out Monday from that point on what we’re going to do and if whether we’re going to stay here on Election Day, when you really can’t campaign, maybe start going to another state and start doing some campaigning. We want to use every single day to campaign. And we’re sort of up in the air to exactly how that works.”
Santorum’s plans are in flux, and so are mine. I’ve got a 1,500-word article due today for the March print edition of The American Spectator, and there’s an event tonight in Orlando where Romney is expected to get the endorsement of the governor of Puerto Rico. It’s about a three-hour drive, and the event starts at 8 p.m. Tempus fugits and deadline looms.
Well, as much as anyone can explain what’s going on with the GOP and its primary voters this election season. I readily admit I’m a sucker for blog posts like these; everybody who writes books about our party seems to be either a) an insider with an axe to grind or b) a Democrat who would love nothing better than to use that axe on our necks, but the Crank is one of us slobs in the trenches, and seems fairly honest in his assessment of not only the candidates, but the other players in the primary game: the conservative commentariat, old pols like Bob “Viagra!” Dole, and radio hosts such as Rush Limbaugh.
What The Republican “Establishment” Really Means
This post should be read first. It’s long, but well worth your time when it comes to understanding why nothing ever seems to change on Capitol Hill and who the players are in the GOP -not to be confused with the conservative movement, as you all should be aware by now, although that distinction is becoming increasingly meaningless as RINOs have become a threatened species within the GOP.
Establishments And Our Money: A Response To Avik Roy
This is a follow-on to the first post, answering the criticisms of sometime National Review writer Avik Roy, who appears to have taken the Crank’s comments excessively personally.
By and large, the two essays explain why the Tea Party and other populist chunks of the GOP base aren’t meekly falling into line behind Mitt Romney; as Billy Joel sang so long ago, it’s a matter of trust, and when it comes to Mitt, there ain’t none. This is something the people so eager to tear down Newt Gingrich don’t understand. His supporters know about his record. It’s been factored in, and at this point they just don’t care. They want a bomb-thrower, an iconoclast, a Samson in the Temple, and so far Rick Santorum just hasn’t been mad, bad, and dangerous to know enough. And every time Ann Coulter or the NR crowd tees off on Newt, it just hardens peoples’ resolve to stick their thumb in the eye of the Establishment. Because what goes around comes around, and it’s a lot more fun to dish it out than it is to sit back and take it.
Mark Mekler makes a fine guest, making the case for the bottom-up strategy, instead of the drop-in, Ross Perot actor.
The notion that the restoration of the country is a long-term project is blindingly obvious. However, my gut is that, as things neck down to the August GOP convention, the Tea Partiers are going to become really, really energetic, and cause much fearful wetness in the Lefty midriff.
The two lawyers bandy about the idea of a constitutional convention, and view the country’s situation as too dire for the necessary reflection of a convention in the near future, but not insurmountable.
All the Eeyores need to watch this clip.
The only obvious flaw in this interview is the failure to mention this blog. Next time, Prof. Reynolds.
Via Big Government we have a throwaway remark from senior #OccupyDC member #OccupyResoluteDesk:
On Tuesday night, the president spoke in no uncertain terms: “Send me a bill that bans insider trading by Members of Congress, and I will sign it tomorrow,” he said. “Let’s limit any elected official from owning stock in industries they impact.” The remarks were cause for celebration for Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer, who authored a 2011 book exposing Congressional insider trading, and 60 Minutes, which ran a widely-viewed segment based on his book (CBS quicklyuploaded the portion of the speech last night). But early reactions from Congress (Republicans and Democrats) shouldn’t encourage much optimism.
And what did the star of Chapter 2 of Throw Them All Out have to say to BHO’s piffle?
“Easier said than done is my reaction,” Democratic Rep. Jim Moran tells Politico’s Manu Raju on the subject of restricting officials from owning stock they could impact. “Unless you are fairly precise about it, you can conceivably influence almost any corporation.”
You’ve got to go, Mr. Moran. You view Americans as sheep, and yourself as the shearer, judging by your actions.
Yesterday I confirmed that I can safely take a couple of days off of work, and signed up for CPAC. This will be my third in four years, having had the reasonable excuse last year that I was enjoying a Navy appreciation tour with the Army last February in Kabul.
The first year, 2009, I was wandering around in a fog. Stacy was still on Blogger at the time, and there was still a glimmer of hope that the Faux Moderate Obama who’d won the election and just sworn in might hang around for a few years of vaguely Clinton-esque suckage.
Somehow I heard that Evan Sayet would be at Heritage, doing a follow-up to this excellent talk:
Stacy and I went to Heritage, and I got an autograph in his book.
I also got recruited into blogging. By 2010, I was a Ron Burgundy-esque ‘big deal’. We were getting our doggone blog on. And then there was a side trip to the ‘Stan.
That trip was broken up by the arrival of the World’s Youngest Blogger:
I bring up Niklas because we’re planning to bring him down for at least a fly-by. Looking at the speaker list, I hope to get him a photo op with Sarah Palin. The other attendee that I’m looking forward to meeting is Daniel Hannan. I am jealous of Niklas already, as he is far better looking than I. No, I’m actually not jealous. Rather, I’m motivated to work hard at fixing the cesspool of American politics, so that, when he’s my age, he has no legitimate cause for anger at my for not trying harder.
One other side project for this CPAC: a bite or a beverage with Tabitha Hale and Stacy McCain. As a Christian, I have a natural instinct toward being the peacemaker. I’m not exactly sure where the tension is, but I hope to be a vessel of improvement.
SecDef Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs Chair General Martin Dempsey
Eight Army brigades, six Air Force fighter wings, seven cruisers on the chopping block; Senator Lieberman (I-CT) accuses Administration of putting budget first instead of considering defense needs
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. CONCLUSION 1 a.m. ET: Excuse my long absence. Had to go to the spin room for the post-debate action, then write a column for The American Spectator. I was hesitant to say this earlier but, did Rick Santorum kick butt or what?
Because I wanted to believe he did well, I felt that maybe I was prejudiced. But then I saw Guy Benson’s post at Townhall:
What a night for the former Pennsylvania Senator … he definitely made a very serious case that he might be the best Not Romney in the race.
No argument. Newt was off his game tonight, and I’d score Romney the winner — that is to say, I think Mitt did what he needed to do to win here Tuesday. But I suspect a lot of people watched that debate and said to themselves, “Hey, that Santorum kid’s pretty feisty.”
9:30 p.m. ET: Newt talks about the “Romney attack machine,” defends his claim to being a latter-day Reagan.
9:25 p.m. ET: Admit it: Rick Santorum won the Best Wife competition.
9:16 p.m. ET: Rick Santorum wants Marco Rubio in his cabinet. Newt wants Rubio as VP. Romney recites the names of lots of Latinos who haven’t self-deported.
9:12 p.m. ET: Mitt Romney: “We’re insisting on personal responsibility.” This is good for Santorum to be able to go back-and-forth with Romney, thus ending the Mitt-and-Newt Show. Also, he name-checked Scott Plakon.
9:07 p.m. ET: Rick Santorum slams Newt and Mitt for their records on health care.
9:03 p.m. ET: Lynn Frazier is unemployed and wants health insurance. Ron Paul blames government for inflating medical costs.
8:59 p.m. ET: Newt accuses Santorum of being “cheap.”
8:58 p.m. ET: Mitt says, “You’re fired.” Accuses Newt of pandering. “We’ve got to say no to this kind of spending.”
8:57 p.m. ET: Newt warns of Chinese dominance of space.
8:55 p.m. ET: Ron Paul wants to send Newt to the moon.
8:50 p.m. ET: Question about NASA and manned space flight, because all politics is local. And galactic.
8:49 p.m. ET: Wolf Blitzer asks Ron Paul, age 76, if he’s willing to release his medical records. Paul makes a joke about age discrimination.
8:48 p.m. ET: Ron Paul talks about currency. Sound money.
8:46 p.m. ET: Santorum on 28% top tax rate: “If it’s good enough for Reagan, it’s good enough for me.” Get’s a laugh with, “I wish I made as much money as Mitt Romney.”
8:45 p.m. ET: Newt says he’s “the opposite of Obama.”
8:43 p.m. ET: More talk about personal finances. Newt gets caught trying to say he didn’t say what he said. Newt’s in a hole, but won’t stop digging.
8:36 p.m. ET: Ron and Rick get to have their say about Fannie and Freddie. Santorum draws cheers for demanding that they “focus on the issues.”
8:34 p.m. ET: Newt defends himself ably against the lobbying charge. But what was he paid $1.6 million for?
8:33 p.m. ET: Mitt stings Newt on mutual funds, draws cheers.
8:31 p.m. ET: Newt says Romney “has been attacking me inaccurately, and he knows it.” It’s getting nasty again.
8:30 p.m. ET: Mitt Romney gets a question about Fannie and Freddie, and starts talking about Newt Gingrich.
8:28 p.m. ET: Now it’s the Ron and Rick Show. These guys really don’t like each other.
8:25 p.m. ET: Rick Santorum talks about Honduras, accuses Obama of supporting Marxists in Latin America.
8:24 p.m. ET: A lady named Vasquez has a question about trade with Latin America. Ron Paul loves him some free trade.
8:22 p.m. ET: It’s turning into the Mitt-Newt Show again.
8:21 p.m. ET: Newt wants everybody to learn English.
8:20 p.m. ET: Mitt: “Our problem is not 11 million grandmothers.”
8:19 p.m. ET: Romney: “I am pro-immigrant. . . . I want them to come here legally.”
8:18 p.m. ET: Romney accuses Newt of “over-the-top rhetoric,” invokes Marco Rubio twice, gets a big cheer from the audience.
8:17 p.m. ET: Newt Gingrich won’t answer a direct question about his accusation that Romney is “anti-immigrant.”
8:16 p.m. ET: Ron Paul panders to the Vaguely Incoherent.
8:14 p.m. ET: Mitt defends self-deportation. Did you know his father was from Mexico? It’s true. Look it up. Anyway, Romney’s answer is long and complicated.
8:12 p.m. ET: Newt is in favor of a “guest worker” program.
8:11 p.m. ET: On immigration, Rick Santorum wants to enforce the law. This is radical extremism!
8:09 p.m. ET: Candidates say a few words. Rick Santorum introduces his 93-year-old mom, who’s a senior citizen, kinda like Ron Paul.
8:04 p.m. ET: The candidates have been introduced.
8:02 p.m. ET: That was some good pre-debate hype, huh?
8 p.m. ET: And we’re LIVE!
* * * PREVIOUSLY (7:29 p.m. ET) * * *
We’re on the scene here at the University of North Florida where, at 8 p.m. ET, the four remaining Republican presidential candidates will debate on CNN. A few quick headlines for discussion:
