Real Men for Sarah Palin

Thursday, December 4, 2008

The Heroic Mr. Donofrio Will Not Succeed Where the Dems Failed to Tread

by W. T. Howes

Was BHO born in Kenya?  Did he become a citizen of Indonesia?  These are questions that were not throughly explored by the candidates who ran against BHO in the Democratic Party primaries and caucuses.  Messrs. Berg and Donofrio are giving their own life blood to bring the question to a head, but their quest will end tomorrow when the United Supreme Court puts an end to Donfrio v. Wells.

In order to get his name on the ballot in states with primaries or to qualify for participation in caucus states, President-elect Obama had to meet certain qualifications.  There were legal qualifications peculiar to each state - usually a number of qualified nominating signatures, and there were constitutional qualifications as well.  If he did not qualify on some ground, then his opponents were free to challenge his petition either in court before the chief election officer.  The legal challenge is not a secret:  It happens all the time.

Why didn’t Hillary Clinton, Bill Richardson, Dennis Kucinich, Al Sharpton, Mike Gravel or Jonathan Edwards raise the issue of BHO’s constitutional qualification to hold office?

One possible answer is that they did not know about the issue.  I find it hard to believe that neither Hillary Clinton nor John Edwards knew.  They are both lawyers.  Their campaigns were well-funded, and as such both could afford very serious opposition research and legal support.  Both are ambitious.  Senator Edwards is very concerned about his hair, but Hillary does not share his hair obsession and is not squeemish where hardball politics are concerned.

One possible answer is that they did know and did not take BHO seriously enough to file legal challenges.  That may have been true at one point, but BHO was a top-tier candidate by December at the very latest.  There were very many filing deadlines after he became a first tier candidate.  I was present at the New Jersey Elections Division when the Obama petition was filed.  I was present to file the nominating petition on behalf of Fred Thompson.  That deadline was about one year ago.  It was clear at that point that Obama was serious.  Clinton could have filed a challenge in New Jersey at that point.

Hillary Clinton had the standing that Leo Donofrio lacks.  If BHO does lack the constitutional requisites for service, then Hillary fell down on her job as a candidate.  Mr. Donofrio has done yeomans work trying to frame the issue but the issue is moot.  You can’t remove someone from the ballot after the primary election and the general election are finished, and he has won.  That job has to be done by candidates who have standing at the time of the filing deadline.
Count Us Out is a blog that has taken a strong pro-Donofrio position.  Count Us Out cites the case of McCarthy v. Briscoe, 429 U.S. 1317 (1976) as precedential support for the case.  McCarthy supports only the procedural argument that the worthy Mr. Donofrio is making.  However, it indirectly points at the argument that this blog has made.

McCarthy had standing to bring his proceeding.  He was an actual candidate who was trying to get on the ballot and was barred from doing so by an unconstitutional state law.  Much like the petition challenges of which I speak, the McCarthy matter had to be brought in time to print and distribute ballots and had to be brought by someone with legal standing. 

If the allegations about BHO’s citizenship are indeed true, then this is yet another failure of the Democrats and the MSM.  However, I harbor serious doubts about the merits of the case.  Hilary Clinton had thorough research on BHO, the ambition to be president and at some point knew that he was a serious candidate.  If he really did not qualify, she would have taken him out. 

God Bless Mr. Donofrio.  He is a good man and a good lawyer.  But his quest is about to end.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Saxby Thanks Sarah for Exciting the Base

by W. T. Howes

Fresh from his whirlwind day with Sarah, Sen. Saxby Chambliss was not shy in his praise for the Gentlelady from Alaska.  The Gentleman from the Peach State credited Sarah Palin with firing up the Republican base in Georgia on the eve of his runoff election.  Senator Chambliss held four sold out campaign rallies across Georgia with the Republican Rock Star, and the crowds at the rallies were way beyond the size of rallies any reasonable candidate could expect.

From Politico.com:

“Fresh off his runoff victory Tuesday night, Georgia Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss credited Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin with firing up his base.

‘I can’t overstate the impact she had down here,’ Chambliss said during an interview Wednesday morning on Fox News.

‘When she walks in a room, folks just explode,’ he added. ‘And they really did pack the house everywhere we went. She’s a dynamic lady, a great administrator, and I think she’s got a great future in the Republican Party.’

From last night’s Hannity and Colmes interview on Fox News:

“It went great, Sean. She — she truly is a rock star. I mean, she came into town to help us electrify our base, make sure that these folks get fired up and turn out tomorrow, and she did exactly that.

We had four stops around the state: Augusta, Savannah, down in Houston County, and back in Gwinnett County and Metro Atlanta. We had huge crowds, and they were enthusiastic and very electrified.”

The MSM has reported that there were three to four thousand enthusiastic supporters at each of the four rallies.  Attendance at US Senate campaign rallies is measured in the hundreds - if you are lucky.  I recall an event that I helped organize for a great Republican Senate candidate in 2000.  We were able to draw (make that drag) about 75 people to a Main Street rally in a very Republican county in New Jersey.  That was the best rally of the closing week for the candidate.  The candidate was a very well regarded Congressman who nearly won the election.  The point?  Crowds in the thousands for a Senate candidate are extraordinary. 

Good job, Sarah.  Now get back to your day job!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

The ‘08 Voting is Over:  GOP Moves on to New Jersey and Virginia in ‘09

by W. T. Howes

The tide may have turned last night with the electoral beating that Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss administered to his Democratic rival.  There are only two statewide elections in the nation in 2009.  Voters in New Jersey and Virginia will go to the polls to elect Governors in the Dems first test of the Era of Obama.  MFP will keep an eye on both of these races as they unfold.  Today will be our first look at New Jersey.

New Jersey has become a source of great frustration for Republicans.  Despite the fact that Democrat-elected-official after Democrat-elected-official has been taken away in chains, the Republicans have been unable to return to majority status.  The Democrats control both houses of the legislature, the governor’s mansion, both US Senate seats and eight of the thirteen House seats.  To top that, no Republican has won the Garden State’s electoral votes since 1988.  It’s not Massachussets; not yet anyway.

Republicans see an opportunity this year because incumbent Dem Governor Jon Corzine has upside-down approval ratings.  Corzine’s popularity has suffered due to a botched plan to increase tolls on the toll roads and because of the ongoing saga of his financial and romantic relationship with the head of New Jersey’s most powerful public employees union.  Governor Corzine has literally in bed with the public employees union!

Corzine, however, has a 10-figure net worth, so he can opt out of the public financing system, self-fund and carpet bomb the state with advertising.

Where do the New Jersey Repubicans turn?  Right now there are three announced candidates, only one of whom has a statewide organization and statewide name recognition.  Former Mayor Steve Lonegan of Bogota is actively campaigning for the nomination, which will be decided in the June primary.  He is a red-blooded conservative.  He is unabashedly pro-life and pro-Second Amendment.  He is a proven budget slasher who has promised to cut the size of the New Jersey state government and budget by twenty percent.

Mayor Lonegan is a former member of the National Federation of Independent Business Leadership Council.  In recent years, he has served as the New Jersey Chairman of Americans for Prosperity.  Under his leadership in 2007, Americans for Prosperity led a statewide coalition against a referendum seeking voter approval to establish a government funded fetal stem cell research institute in New Jersey.  The campaign was well-funded and well-organized.  The campaign focused both on fiscal responsibility and ethics.  Lonegan defeated the referendum by a 52-48 margin, thereby proving that a Republican message can still win in New Jersey when delivered with conviction and with credibility.

Mayor Lonegan has two opponents who are relatively unknown.  One is Mayor Brian Levine of Franklin Township, a Republican who has won two terms in a heavily Democrat city.  He is a good Republican, but not widely known outside of his home county.  Similarly, State Assemblyman Rick Merkt has a good record of service to the Republican Party and in the legislature, but is not widely known outside of his home county.  Other candidates may appear in the coming months, but they will have some catching up to do because Mayor Lonegan has his organization in motion under Campaign Chairman Hank Butehorn (former Fred Thomspon area coordinator), and appeared on the state’s most powerful radio station this morning.

Bringing some red back into Blue Jersey will be crucial if the GOP ever hopes to regain majority status.  MFP will re-visit the race as it develops.

NEXT:  VIRGINIA

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Congratulations to Senator Chambliss

by W. T. Howes

The tide has turned in Georgia.  The people of Georgia had a clear choice:  Send another Democrat and allow President-elect Obama to enact his agenda without any resistance, or return Saxby Chambliss to Washington as the firewall.  The Peach State has spoken.  They want checks and balances on the Obama-Reid-Pelosi agenda.  Thank you Senator Chambliss and congratulations on a race well won.  Now get back to Washington and stop the bailout madness!