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2010: Florida, 2012: Texas, 2014: . . . ?

By: fairfaxchris (Diary)  |  July 31st, 2012 at 10:41 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Texas has brought liberty and constitutional conservatism to the United States Senate by electing Ted Cruz as its junior senator.  It is a fabulous way to show that the Tea Party is alive and well, even if the GOP Establishment in DC and in state capitols across the country want to deny it.  It also marks the second consecutive year that the Tea Party has toppled an establishment-backed candidate seen as a shoo-in in an open seat election.  From my count there are only 13 GOP seats being defended (this is from the 2008 Obama-led wipe-out).  There doesn’t seem to be any obvious open seat that could emerge, most of the GOP incumbents seem to be running for reelection.  So if we are to grow the DeMint Caucus (as I like to call them – DeMint, Paul, Toomey, Johnson) it looks like it might be time for the Tea Party to finally take down a giant.  Here is my top 3.

  1. Lindsey Graham
  2. Lamar Alexander
  3. Saxby Chambliss

I don’t know these states, I don’t pretend to know them.  But my hope would be good conservatives who believe in what Ted Cruz believes in will take on this challenge.

My home state of Virginia has a much weaker, but still strong, Mark Warner running for reelection in 2014 and we must do better than running 1990s retreads like we’ve done for every Senate election (including this one).  I haven’t heard anything about who wants to get in this yet because of our 2013 statewide races other than Gov. McDonnell.  I know we can do better than that.

Still, I think every conservative across the country is basking in the glow of Ted Cruz tonight!

COMMENTS

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  • commonsenseobserver

    …

  • gflyer3364qt

    I’m more focused on the 20 Dems up for reelection in 2014. Like in Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana, New Hampshire, Colorado, North Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia, and West Virginia and West Virginia. I would focus on nominating conservatives to knock off all these vulnerable Dems. But yeah it would be nice to knock off Lindsey Graham. South Carolina would chomp at the bit to nominate a real conservative.

  • acat

    I don’t see how McDonnell is the best of the VA politicians … surely the bench isn’t *that* weak … is it?

    Mew

  • gflyer3364qt

    …

  • commonsenseobserver

    That’s assuming a midterm backlash against austerity.

    Alaska, Lousiana, and South Dakota. But all of the states you mentioned are vulnerable.

    On our side are all seats that survived the 2008 wave, though Maine could flip if Sen. Collins retires.

  • gflyer3364qt

    No one had even heard of Marco Rubio, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Scott Walker, Ron Johnson, or Ted Cruz 2.5 years ago.

  • commonsenseobserver

    And Bolling too, unless we get John Warner back, ask Jim Gilmore to run again, or get some obscure Congressman (Eric Cantor?), there is pretty much no other viable candidate.

    According to some old poll, even McDonnell would be crushed by double digits, and he’s one of the most popular GOP politicians.

  • http://masonconservative.typepad.com fairfaxchris

    Just everyone is jockeying right now for 2013. I think there are a couple of hidden gems out there . . . State Sen. Tom Garrett is one, Jeff Frederick is another.

    To beat Warner we need someone who is truly in-touch with the grassroots. McDonnell would be a strong candidate, but I think he might take a pass if Tim Kaine wins and sets his sights there. Bob is a good governor, but he doesn’t like to take a lot of chances.

  • gflyer3364qt

    She’d win easily and it would be a blessing to have her in the Senate.

  • audax

    …..austerity as in “we are going to let you keep your hard earned money” (because you can spend it better than government can)?

    Seems Conservative-nouns and Tea Party’ers need to be the one’s who define austerity as “government austerity” and not “taxpayer austerity”. As for me I can’t wait for the most draconian government austerity program in history!

  • mikeymike143

    south carolina is a red state, with plenty of tea party conservatives. he will lose by double digits in the primary.

  • fbks

    Don’t misunderstand, I respect her and would vote for her. She has matured well and I think has focused on conservative positions.
    The problem is Alaska will vote its’ 3 electoral votes for Romney, but conservative politicians are very rare. Our state is (per capita) probably the largest piglet at the federal trough of spending.
    Because of the libertarian aspects of gun rights and the general attitude of leaving individuals alone, outside people think Alaska is conservative, but when it comes to reducing or eliminating federal and state spending, the squealing can be heard all the way to Russia.
    With the redistricting my district has a shot on a Republican house and senator at the state level, and I am hoping for a right to work result. That would be a great step, but not holding my breath. I tend to support my district Republicans, and then find outside candidates that are important to the nation at large, such as Cruz, Rubio, West, ect. because there isn’t much to get excited about around here.
    The other aspect is Palin was run in the ground and people are jealous of her success and express it by denigrating her. This is pervasive here. I hear more from people positive on her on outside trips than at home.
    I will crawl over broken glass to vote against Begich, whoever is running against him.

  • blujay83

    I hope so.