State GOP committees in bad shape
By Steve Benen Monday Mar 24, 2008 4:00pmAnd I thought Republican committees at the federal level were in trouble.
At a time when the GOP presidential nominee will need more assistance than ever, a number of state Republican parties are struggling through troubled times, suffering from internal strife, poor fundraising, onerous debt, scandal or voting trends that are conspiring to relegate the local branches of the party to near-irrelevance.
In some of the largest, smallest, reddest and bluest states in the nation, many state Republican organizations are still reeling in the aftermath of the devastating 2006 election cycle, raising questions about how much grassroots help the state parties will be able to deliver to presumptive GOP nominee John McCain.
The state party woes are especially ill-timed since McCain will face a Democratic nominee who may be considerably better funded and organized, and since Republicans will be facing an energized Democratic party that is shattering primary election turnout records.
Saul Anuzis, chairman of the Michigan Republican Party was surprisingly candid about the state of affairs for state affiliates: “After 12 years of being in power, you tend to get fat and lazy, and in some cases arrogant with respect to your positions. There is no doubt that we have had people who have gotten caught up in both illegal activities and immoral activities and none of that helps the party as a whole. If you go back to 2006 most people would agree that not only did we lose our brand, that we damaged our brand significantly. We are clearly rebuilding.”
Of course, “rebuilding” in the midst of a competitive presidential campaign is a little tricky.
Some of the more dramatic problems for the party are occurring in huge states such as California and New York — where state GOP committees seem to have all but run out of money — but realistically, both are considered “blue” states.
Consider, though, the trouble facing state parties in some more competitive states.
In New Hampshire, where the state GOP has been driven by a dispute between moderates and conservatives, the state Democratic party took in four times as much money as its Republican counterpart in 2007. At the end of the most recent reporting period in February, the state GOP reported just $64,000 cash on hand to the Democrats’ $159,000.
In Arkansas, where Republicans lost the governorship in 2006 and are outnumbered in the state House and Senate by 3-1 margins, state GOP Chairman Dennis Milligan said he is facing defections and malaise.
“Independent conservative individuals just said they were fed up and they said there is no difference [between the two parties],” Milligan said. “We have sent out the message that we are now different. We know it did not fall down in one day and it won’t be rebuilt in one day.”
And in a handful of reliably “red” states, matters aren’t much better.
Even in some of the reddest states in the nation, Republicans have faced dispiriting news. As if Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ easy 2006 re-election victory wasn’t insult enough in heavily Republican Kansas, she won with a running mate who was more than a little familiar to the state GOP — Mark Parkinson, the former state Republican chairman, who switched parties to run as her lieutenant governor.
Just four years earlier, Parkinson had exclaimed that “any Republican who supports Kathleen Sebelius for governor is either insincere or uninformed.” Sebelius is now frequently mentioned as a prospective vice presidential nominee.
Most recently it was the Alaska Republican party airing its dirty laundry. Just over a week ago, at the state Republican convention, the lieutenant governor shocked his party colleagues by announcing a primary challenge to veteran Congressman Don Young, who is under federal investigation. The state’s senior senator, Republican Ted Stevens, is also under federal investigation.
At the same event, GOP Gov. Sarah Palin, who is at odds with the state party, called for changes in leadership in the wake of a series of scandals that have tainted the party. An attempt to oust GOP Chairman Randy Ruedrich fell just short.
There’s time for the state parties to get back on track, and it’s not altogether clear how much the McCain campaign plans to rely on state GOP affiliates for support anyway.
But all things being equal, this isn’t how the Republican Party wanted to enter the ‘08 cycle.
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Conservatism is going extinct, and Conservatism is directly linked to the GOPigs. Good riddance to bad trash.
GOP can crash and burn for all the suffering, misery and outright shit they have wrought upon the world.
I may loathe Mr. Saulius "Saul" Anuzis, but I HATE the MDP's ever-inept Mark Brewer. The fat pile of shite that he is! He disenfranchised me and other dues-paying members of the Michigan Democratic Party.
I want my vote for Gravel to count, dammit!
I may just be lucky enough at the age of 64 to never see the repugnant party in control ever again.
Hey GOP...don't let the door hit ya in the ass on yer way out...
So?
The Republicans are a party with a huge supply of corporate money, fanatical deluded followers, and a MainStreamMedia enraptured with kissing its fascistic ass. They are power hungry and unencumbered by anything that could be mistaken for morals or ethics. They trade in fear, hate and greed. In other words, I wouldn't count them out just yet.
The idiot republicans think they are losing from being too long in power. No......... it's that ALL YOUR FUCKING POLICIES ON EVERYFUCKINGTHING are wrong. Not just wrong, COSMICALLY wrong. Logarithmically wrong. From the economy to education to national defense to science to industry. Wrong about EVERYTHING.
kkkarl rove IS a genius strategist... (for the dems)
bob @ 8:
Wait! They were right about....that one thing...what was it...oh no that was wrong too. I think ya nailed it Bob.
Samson- @ 9:
he is actually more effective than dean in helping get dems elected...
[Deleted. Off topic-Sitemonitor]
bob @ 8:
Um.....huh?!!! We're in A M E R I C A.....speak engrish please!!!!!! (lol)
http://www.buycommonsense.com
bob@8 ,please Bob don't hold it in ,tell us how you really feel about the GOParty of hate!
Gosh this post broke my heart. I can't stop crying for the GOP's misery.
Oh wait, I just misspoke. My heart wasn't broken over this post and I'm not crying. See I have read so many posts over the years and I write thousands of words everyday. If I made a mistake it shows I'm human.
Bless their little hearts.
Dang, YourMom@6, you beat me to it. LOL Anyhoo. What with the Republican Party going the way of the Dodo bird, how will the MSM justify bashing Democrats after the election in Nov.? If the Republican Party crashes and burns, so too will their enablers, the MSM. I can sense fear in the MSM, but the Republicans are still behaving badly, in public anyway. They show no signs of remorse, so asta la vista, baby.
Let's not kid ourselves. The GOP is still dangerous and just because they're broke doesn't mean they're gone. A rabid dog is still dangerous even when it's dead.
At the same time state Republican parties are having so much trouble raising funds, state Democratic parties are raking in the cash in often record numbers. Take that alongside the fundraising disparity between McCain and Obama/Clinton, as well as the low turnout in Republican primaries - even when things were still competitive - and things are looking pretty good for the Democrats.
If we can't win this time around, we're in serious trouble.
When you think about it, it's a perfect model for the process of natural selection. Got to love the delicious irony eh?
pissed off patricia @ 15:
Money is the life's blood of politics and they are out of it, money that is.
The brand name of Republican has been so tarnished by Bush/Cheney/conservatives that Moneydoesn't think that it can be revived.
But as old Bob Dylan said, "Money doesn't talk it screams.", it will find a voice.
Let's just hope that Hillary doesn't have a complete crying hissy fit before leaving the race, she's out of money too.
You guys forgot about the electronic voting machines and fake polls though.
ain't there a difference between real republicans and this bunch of arsewipes?
Biff Limbaugh @ 24:
Yes. But they haven't existed since Goldwater.
Saul Anuzis, "If you go back to 2006 most people would agree that not only did we lose our brand, that we damaged our brand significantly. We are clearly rebuilding.”
wrong. dead wrong. dead fucking wrong.
the GOP "brand" has not been "damaged", nope, that is bogus, inaccurate and insulting to the thinking class. no, the brand is fine. the PROBLEM for the GOP is that people have seen past the brand, they have seen the product: and it is a wargasmic, inept, corrupt, criminal, dishonest, immoral and unethical product. of course people reject that. forget the brand Saul Anuzis, your problem is the product.
Seems unlikely the very deep pockets of corporate America are going to let these guys swing in the breeze. Granted, the party had long since lost some of its grand and respected proponents (Bill Buckley springs to mind, even before he died), but there are plenty of new rich who owe a good deal of their prosperity to the pay-to-play GOP.
Of course, a certain number of those same folks are busy trying to buy Democrats this election.
Still, when it comes to the GOP, I believe in kicking them when they are down. Then running over them with a tractor and discing them under.
Dr. Hussien Matt @ 1:
isn't this type of conservitism a lot like the libertianism that so many think is just nifty?
What is needed are safety nets and regulation that will keep the greed that is so widespread from happening a smaller governmnet is fine but it will get bought off and pushed around.
Side note it is funny how stricter regs were not part of the bearn streans bank bailout wonder why that is after all if the reason for the bailout was to stop a domino effect maybe this industry ( loan sharking) should be heavily regulated
Floridiot @ 23:
yeah...
and voter caging, purged voter lists, voter intimidation, phone jamming, etc.
i have said it before, and i repeat it now: the rightwing is antidemocratic, the LAST thing they want is free and open elections. from making it harder to register to vote, to their attempts to skew dem primaries, it is evident that they don't accept the notion that the will of the people is what democracy is built from.
Bill and Hillary are doing all they can for the GOP when they talk about McCain's lifetime of experience and how he loves his country. Sometimes I think Bill and Hillary would be happy with a Hillary/McCain ticket and to hell with the parties.
To hell with the pitiful coffers of the GOP. They made their bed, let them lay in it.
They want us to believe that they are hurting so that any success, no matter how small will be greatly magnified. "oh look how weak we are, and we KICKED YOUR BUTTS!!" will be the rallying cry after this election.
It's a ploy to make us be strong, and get complacent, while they rile up the newest closet voter. In '02 they blindsided us with the "security mom" in '04 it was the anti-gay religious voters. Who will it be this round? Disenfranchised ditto heads? Beck-baffoons? They'll find someone out there that will buy their lies.
[Deleted. Off topic-Sitemonitor]
BobD @ 31:
this year's fear ticket is a black president.
Mike Mid City @ 22:
Wrong the brand name was ruined by a young Rove working for Nixon! The repub of my father's era was replaced by a group of "win at all costs" frat boys. They were so intent on "winning" that they were willing to throw their convictions out the window and under the bus. They have been "winning" because voters equate republican with the memories of what they were and not of what they have become.
Sad.
Remember back at the beginning of this campaign, that has gone on for ever, there was talk that if the right wing religious people didn't like the repub candidate they would stay home and divide the repub party. Now we have the same thing being said about the dems. They are saying if the super delegates anoint Hillary, the Obama supporters, especially the young ones, will lose their enthusiasm and not turn out to vote. How the hell can the party allow this to happen?
CoIntelPro - against Divisive Democrats @ 33:
Ironic since the Southern Black Repubs want us to believe that MLK was a repub!
CoIntelPro - against Divisive Democrats @ 32:
The genius! The repug party will be reborn from the "centrist" or right wing of the democratic party - LIEberman was one of the first, Clintons will follow.
Samson- @ 29:
Yup, and the new real scam is not county registered, but state registered electronic poll books...totally hackable.
Possibly the one that is going to hit us this fall.
I read a post from a guy in Georgia when he went to vote in the primary, the electrnic poll book said he had already voted, most others (Dems) said that they were not registered in their respective states, even those that have been on the books for years!
Going to be a rough November this year.
She had time to file this report? Funny since her full time job is kissing ass for General Patreaus.
"Instead of sending helicopter batteries, the United States shipped four electrical fuses for Minuteman nuclear missile warheads to Taiwan, a mistake that was discovered only last week — a year and a half after the erroneous shipment, Pentagon officials disclosed on Tuesday."
New York Times
These kind of stories aren't going to be helpful to the administration or the GOP
pissed off patricia @ 35:
I've talked to both dems and repubs here in KBunk ME. The dems have been very happy that no matter who the dem is that wins we have a strong candidate. They all felt that we fielded strong people. The repubs have refused to vote if the candidate is McC. They don't want Hilary, but to quote one guy "we can't have a islamomuslim who swore in on the quaran in the White House". I kindly laughed and put him right on that email scam, but the black issue may still scare this enlightened gentleman!
Long story short I think the right wants dems to stay home, but that won't happen. The repubs may stay home, but with electronic machines out there their votes may already have been cast! FL the voter fraud was in your face because they stole the wrong votes, maybe if they can keep their wavering votes home, and then cast them at their leisure, thanks diabold, they can steal friendly votes.
As I understand it, Florida will have no touchscreen voting machines unless they have a paper trail from now on. That was one of the problems with having a re-vote down here, several counties have dumped their old machines and aren't set up yet for another vote.
pissed off patricia @ 42:
No more touchscreens in Florida, only scanned paper ballots
C'mon, Karl, say it. Say it!!
Permanent ...
Republican ...
Minority.
Floridiot @ 43:
Made by Diebold I'm sure.
BobD @ 41:
I know many people here in Ohio who will be staying home if Clinton is able to snatch the nomination....
especially after today, with this new Wright attack by Clinton
i'm talking women over 65, too....
Clinton will have a very hard time winning ohio, as many of the obama supporters will not vote, considering the slimy campaign clinton has run...and some even think mccain would be better
Weaseldog @ 45:
Judge for yourself
Link
Look at the link to the right for some random Democrat running for Senate.
Donate to him!
If we all donated just $1 to each person running for senate, think what we could get for our money! It would only be like $33 dollars per election cycle - but if all Democrats everywhere did it, think what we could do!
The Republican Party in Oregon is something like $250,000 in debt and they haven't won a serious state-wide contest since Gordon Smith's election. They're also not doing real well with the state legislature races, either, and not even bothering to compete in 18 of them (especially my neighborhood!).
This segment takes the cake on the 2000 elections, if you really want to get pissed off watch Dan Rather tell the story.
Link
The chair in brown county wi got caught playing with a run-away boy. Oh yeah, giving him pot too. family values, what a joke
Record Democratic turn-out, record Democratic registration, No money in the GOP coffers. Smells like doom to me.
Icansum up the GOP problem in one word. CORRUPTION!
Ah rebuilding is it. A little difficult when your farm clubs are Bob Jones University and the KKK.
pissed off patricia @ 35:
I don't know exactly who "they" are but even if Obama gets the nomination it's not always a good idea to count on the young voters. Young voters are notorious for not following through, they lose their enthusiasm and if they have better things to do on vote day they may not vote.
Now it could also be said that if, with media's help and the superdelegates from states like Mass., annoint Obama then all of the vile Hillary hatred we have all been hearing for months might keep those Clinton voters at home. Vile trash can be spewed 24/7 against Hillary by Obama supporters and the media and that seems perfectly acceptable to everyone. It is this that will tear our Democratic Party apart and hand McCrazy the presidency.
What Obama supporters fail to recognize is that they are split just about evenly in supporters and if this level of vitriol keeps up it will be you that does damage to the party.
This is why I miss John Edwards more every day and regret Al Gore's decision to stay out this time.
G.O.P. in the shitter you say? Across the board? Damaged brand name? Lost brand name?.... Oh my tsk tsk... Well holmes, it's a damn shame when you wake up one day and find out the politics you believe in are actually run by greed obsessed crooks, egotistical con-artists and war mongering psychos...Yea.. damn shame.. So, hows that Bush backing shit workin out for ya now??? JD
Carefull. The repubs fell into this trap after the 2000 election, getting cocky with their can't-lose attitude. Once the Dems are back in power it will only be a few years before they turn back into crooks, too. We need to keep them all honest.
Yellow Elephant Safari (Hussein) @ 25:
No, since Ike. Goldwater's the asshole responsible for this mess when he killed off the Rockefeller/Eisenhower moderate-liberal branch of the GOP - which had historically been the main wing of the party - in '64.
I don't expect the repugs to go anywhere. In their minds this is a part of the business cycle of politics, nothing more than consumer backlash. They will step back and let the political fallout settle. Then retool the propaganda machine and get the message out about the exciting new brand of republican politics. The idiots will lap it up like the dogs they are.
Floridiot @ 43:
Of course, those machines performed quite well for the republicans, what ,you actully though they'd allow the democrats to use them?
Let's try to keep this in mind every time panic sets in over the Obama VS Clinton Infighting/MCCains' Free Passes Syndrome. The GOP is in far more trouble the the Democrats, overall.
That's really the issue....they're seeing this as a mere 'branding problem'.
I suppose that if my brand involved hypocritical family values guys getting caught being spanked by gay hookers, lying the country in to war using the tried and true technique of scaring the shit out of people, tanking the economy having run on an official platform of destroying the Federal government by robbing from the American People to the point government was at a size where it could be 'drowned in a bathtub', oh - and torturing people....I would have 'branding problems' too.
So, it's a 'branding problem' for the heartless morally bankrupt hypocritical bullying thugs, eh?
Perhaps they should examine the idea that it's not the 'brand' that's repulsed....all but the irretrievably stupid.
"The state party woes are especially ill-timed since McCain will face a Democratic nominee who may be considerably better funded and organized"
that may be true but the msm are pretty much lined up to help mccain out and shoo anyway away from understanding the true state of the republican "party."
bob @ 8:
This made me laugh!
This era of total control by the Republicans over the House, Senate, Executive, and Judiciary... will be discussed in college classrooms and political textbooks for generations... as one of the darkest, dangerous periods of this tender, delicate democracy.
I wish this were true in Washington State. Here the Rove/Cheney machine has been working for 5 years to get rid of our Governor Gregoire. They are running the same guy that ran the last time.
They want this state because it is a KEYSTONE to Alaska Oil. THIS is where the pipelines and ships come.
We need to fend them off. It's a big time fight.
Awwwwww!!! Nobody likes the poor old GOP anymore? I can't imagine why.
You think the states GOPs are in as bad financial straights as unemployed Americans?
Corporations should have enough money to support them because they aren't giving any pay increases.
Maybe the state GOP employees can get three of those part time jobs Bush claims is so Ameican or they can join up and fight in Bush's "romantic" war.
How can a political party that hates government ( other than to rob the treasure forthemselves and their friends) be expected to run a government ?? didn't I read somewhere that they can't even run their own organizations without one of their own trying to robbing them blind??
It took the democrats 40 years to think of themselves as above the law it took the rethugs only 10/ As for thinking of themselves as a brand such as Microsoft or AMC( look that one up) maybe they deserve to always need patches and will go away in the near future they never will learn to have a big tent mentality or safety nets for the average citizen
Does it really matter? They've got Diebold (and McSame is already the winner.)(wink, ...or not)
TIME FOR THE DEMOCRATS TO TAKE A ...... HARD LEFT
THERE WILL BE ATTEMPTS BY THE RIGHT TO "BUY" THEIR WAY INTO THE LEFT CANDIDATES WHERE THEY CAN TRY TO GET CENTRIST (HILLARY, LIARMAN) DEMOCRATS INTO OFFICE....
DO NOT FALL FOR IT.... KEEP PUSHING VERY PROGRESSIVE AND LET THE CENTER MOVE TO THE LEFT WITH US
State GOP committees in bad shape
Not surprising considering the girth of much of their officials.
And from recent news adding to the financial down trends for the GOP.
We have,
-The GOP embezzling their own treasurey.
But it is time the GOP cut funding to their party. Their party is Governmental and the republicans hate Gov't, right? Time to downsize and contract out the GOP.
This would give us LESS Gov't (it is the GOP's stated goal). Because the GOP believes in less Gov't and if they don't participate. They would make Gov't smaller. It is their mantra..............They should make this effective immediately.
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