May-June 2010 Campaign Update

WE LOST IN PENNSYLVANIA – THIS TIME

     PENNSYLVANIA: Both “inside the Beltway” and Tea Party activists supported Tim Burns in the special election to take the seat of  Congressman John Murtha who died following complications of a rather simple operation in February. The Republicans were so sure that Burns could win the seat that the GOP spent over $900,000 in the election. Several buses with volunteers, mostly staffers of Republican congressmen, went to the 12^th district the weekend before the vote to knock on doors for Burns. GING-PAC had endorsed Tim Burns in the May 18^th special election.

     No one anticipated the Democrat, Mark Critz, who had worked as an aid to John Murtha, would run a campaign just as conservative as the Republican. Critz campaigned as pro-life and pro-gun, said he would have voted against Obamacare and even went as far as to say he may not vote for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House. Will he actually vote that way? Critz won with 53% of the vote. The GING-PAC candidate, Tim Burns had 45% in a district where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by a margin of two to one. The same day the GOP primary was held and Burns won, meaning there will be a rematch between Critz and Burns in November.

     ARKANSAS: The GING-PAC candidate in Arkansas 1^st District, Princella Smith, lost in the primary election on May 18^th to restaurant owner Rick Crawford with 72% of the vote. Princella Smith was one of a large number of African-American Republican candidates running this year. GING-PAC has supported three African-American Republicans so far including her. This was not a loss for social conservatives as both Smith and Crawford are strong pro-life, pro-family candidates. GING-PAC will move the endorsement to Crawford for the general election.

     IDAHO: Our candidate for one of two House seats in Idaho, Vaughn Ward, lost the primary on May 25^th. Vaughn, a war hero who had also worked for the CIA fighting terrorism, had been recruited to run for the House by the Republican Party and was backed by many major social conservative organizations including ours. However, the winner, State Representative Raul Labrador has a perfect pro-life voting record in the Idaho Legislature. Raul supported Idaho’s constitutional amendment protecting marriage. He can beat the incumbent Democrat who won by less than 5,000 votes in 2008. Born in Puerto Rico, Labrador  is married and has five children.

    PRIMARY ELECTIONS IN GENERAL: The results above make it clear why Government Is Not God – PAC does not get involved in too many primary elections. While sometimes there is a clear difference, too often more than one candidate in a primary is a strong social conservative. As a result we tend not to get involved unless there are other factors such as Vaughn Ward’s powerful military record or Princella Smith’s  devoted volunteer work to the Mike Huckabee campaign. GING-PAC is involved in just a couple of the next round of elections on June 1^st and June 8^th.

     HAWAII: As I predicted in the last campaign update, two heavily funded Democrats knocked each other out, and allowed the election of Republican Honolulu City Councilman Charles Djou in the congressional district Barack Obama grew up in. For the last twenty years the entire Hawaiian congressional delegation was Democrat. GING-PAC did not endorse Djou because he believes homosexuals should serve openly in the military and he had the support of several homosexual political action committees including the Log Cabin Republicans.

THE SENATE

     A GOP SENATE?:  Just about every week I sit at a luncheon literally across the table from Senator Jim Inhofe, R-OK, who in my opinion is one of the great conservative heroes of our day. He believes not only that the Republicans can pick up several seats in November, but that they could actually win control. The GOP would have to pick up nine seats to tie, and ten to win control of the Senate. That is a mighty big change for the Senate. But there is new hope.

     The front runner in Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal, the state's Democrat Attorney General, received five draft deferments, before joining the Marine Corps reserves in 1971. (Keep in mind how George W. Bush was ridiculed by the media for being a reserve officer during the Vietnam War.) Blumenthal was on active duty for just six months, all in the USA, but video clips have him stating: "We have learned something very important since the days that I served in Vietnam.” This was not the first time be claimed to be a Vietnam veteran. Since the revelation, he has dropped from a 24 point lead to a 3 point lead. While we will watch the race closely, GING-PAC will not support Republican Linda McMahon, a political unknown and an ex-wrestling executive, because of her social views. At her Internet site she says: “I am pro-choice; however, I oppose partial-birth abortion and federal funding of abortions unless the life of the mother is at stake.”

     CALIFORNIA: I have mentioned that I attended an event with former HP executive Carly Fiorina in her bid to win a Senate seat from left-wing nut Barbara Boxer in California. I was specifically at that event to talk to her about social issues and to see where she really stood on abortion and “gay” issues. She answered all my questions satisfactorily, but we did not endorse her because of some issues while she was heading HP.

     Since then Carly has been endorsed by the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, “in recognition of her firmly pro-life values.” Carly has also received a high profile endorsement by Gov. Sarah Palin. Carly Fiorina is the only Senate candidate in California to make it clear at her Internet site that she is pro-life, believes life begins at conception and says marriage is only for one man and one woman. In light of these developments and the fact that she is now number one in the polls for the GOP nomination, GING-PAC is now endorsing Carly Fiorina for Senate in California.

     ARIZONA: I have great admiration for the service Senator John McCain has given this nation as does former congressman J.D Hayworth, who is running against him in the Arizona primary. GING-PAC is supporting J.D. Hayworth, and the current immigration mess in Arizona makes it clear why Senator McCain needs to retire. It was Senator McCain who just a few years ago introduced legislation to give amnesty to millions of illegals who have invaded our nation. Now McCain is on TV virtually every day telling Arizona voters that Obama needs to secure the border and get tough with the illegals. This is the same Senator McCain who wrote the “campaign finance” reform law that tied the hands of conservative organizations and allowed all the leftwing nuts to give as much money as they wanted to Barack Obama to become our first socialist president. (At left Photo of JD Hayworth and GING-PAC's William J. Murray in May, 2010)

YOUR HELP IS NEEDED

            To have impact in these races, particularly the general election this fall, GING-PAC must have funds. It is crucial that we have at least an additional $50,000 as primaries continue. Please send a check to help today, or give an online gift at www.gingpac.org.      

William J. Murray, Chairman
Government Is Not God - PAC
P.O. Box 77237, Washington, DC 20013

We can win Kirsten Gillibrand's Seat

The House Democrat leadership is very unhappy with the appointment of 20th District Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand to the Senate by New York’s Governor David Paterson. Even Speaker Nancy Pelosi is making it known that Gillibrand’s seat in upstate New York will be very hard to hold. Republicans view the 20th District as a stronghold for their party that they lost in 2006 only because of scandals and the total ineptness of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Also, Kirsten Gillibrand was one of the few New York Democrats conservative enough to be backed by the NRA. She is an avid hunter and a fiscal conservative.

“This should be a Republican seat,” said Bob Bellafiore, a former press secretary to Gov. George Pataki (R). “Having hit rock bottom, this is the first step for Republicans in New York to start their comeback, by winning a seat that should be rightfully theirs.”

But the big question is whether the Republicans will run a conservative who fits the nature of the district or “go for the middle” with a anti-tax candidate who supports same sex marriage, or even worse, is pro-abortion. As Republicans moved away from social conservatives in the Northeast they lost more and more seats.

Within hours of Gillibrand being sworn into the Senate, Republican leaders met and picked Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco as their candidate. It is unknown if the Conservative Party will back him as well. Tedisco was the 2006 candidate for governor on the GOP ticket. As you may recall, he lost to Elliot Spitzer who is best known nationally for hiring high dollar prostitutes. Tedisco has received at times a 100% rating from the NY Right to Life Committee and a zero rating from abortion group NARAL. He is also part of an Alliance Defense Fund lawsuit to stop Gov. Paterson from allowing homosexual marriage.

If Jim Tedisco wins this special election it will show that the Republican party does not lie cold in the grave. But Jim Tedisco is not the kind of candidate the big money guys in the Republican Party want. Wall Street favors anti-tax candidates who also favor same-sex marriage and the whole homosexual agenda. Walls Street and the big corporations see big bucks in the “gay agenda” and favor going back to the days of Richard Nixon, when social conservatives were not welcome in the Republican Party at all. Wall Street and particularly the editors of the Wall Street Journal just do not understand that without social conservatives the Republican Party can’t win elections.

What is a Conservative Populist?

Government Is Not God - PAC chairman William J. Murray recently wrote an Op-ed which appeared in several newspapers on conservative populism. The Op-ed explains why both the Democrat and Republican parties fear conservative populists such as former Gov. Mike Huckabee. Read Op-ed here