Redstate

By TheCollegian Posted in User Blogs — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Tom DeLay is out, but whose in?  Nick Lampson is for the Democrats, but no one is in for the Republicans.  Technically former Rep. Steve Stockman is running as an independent, but he has yet to be given the Republican nod.  Conservatives should hope the party gives it to him.

But why?  Alex Brunk lays out a persuasive case at SavetheGOP.com.  To note,

1.) Stockman is a proven winner. He won in a 5-1 Democratic district in the same area in 1994, defeating a 42 year Democratic incumbent (and Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee). He was only narrowly defeated two years later in 1996 in the same district. The current district is now approximately 2-1 Republican, meaning Stockman's ability to win crossover Democrats will virtually ensure his victory over Lampson this fall.

2.) He begins the race with excellent name identification, something any other candidate will have to build nearly from scratch.

3.) Stockman has massive fundraising ability. His prior service as a member of congress and his connections to GOP bigwigs such as Morton Blackwell will allow him to easily raise large sums of money to win the seat.

4.) Stockman has no ties to the present Republican problems in DC. With Bush's approval numbers low and the current Republican congress being perceived as performing poorly, having an outsider as the nominee who has no ties to Bush or the present problems in Washington will be a major benefit to the party.

5.) He's going to be on the ballot anyways as an independent, so if the Republicans nominate someone else it will split the conservative vote.

6.) Steve is a proven conservative in the mold of Tom Coburn and Tom Tancredo. He is by far the best candidate we could have in there.

I'd agree with all of those and more.  During his tenure in the House he won a 92% rating from the ACU.  Here were the three things he voted against the ACU on, so that you can make up your own mind on their merits:

DEATH PENALTY DELAYS. HR 2703 (CQ House Vote 64), Anti-Terrorism Act.  Watt (D-NC) amendment to strike the bill's habeas corpus provisions that place strict limits on the ability of state death-row and other prisoners to challenge in federal court the constitutionality of their sentence.  (ACU opposed)

MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE. HR 1227 (CQ House Vote 192), Employee Commuting Act/Minimum Wage Increase. Riggs (R-CA) amendment to increase the minimum wage by 90 cents per hour over two years. (ACU opposed)

SMALL BUSINESS EXEMPTIONS. HR 1227 (CQ House Vote 194), Employee Commuting Act/Minimum Wage Increase. Goodling (R-PA) amendment to exempt employees of businesses with annual gross sales under $500,000 from the minimum wage and overtime law. (ACU supported)

All the votes were from 1996... An election year, and he was defending on 5-1 turf.  I can forgive him for playing politics.