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*********************************** And the Real Winners Are. "Tuesday's results are being called a 'win for George Bush and the Republican Party,' but it is, most significantly, a victory for the American people!" - The Federalist, 11/6/02 ********************************** Election '02 Wrap-Up OK. Tying up some loose ends now that the excitement of election day has died down a bit. First, I want to thank News & Views reader Becky Fox. See, it was about 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday. I'd been working outside my polling location in Baltimore City for Gov.-elect Bob Ehrlich all day. Da wife and kids were with me most of the time, but by dinner they'd had enough. Add in the fact that it got dark, cold and started to rain - and who could blame them. So I'm standing alone out in the cold, dark rain when Becky - who'd read where I'd be working that day - stopped by, introduced herself and thanked me for the newsletter. What a pleasant surprise. It made my day. And because of her kindness, the last 45 minutes of poll working flew by and put me in just the right mood for the post-balloting party at the Downtown Hyatt Regency. So thanks, Becky. It was great meeting you. Ditto Tricia, another News & Views reader who happened to be attending a Heritage Foundation lecture on school choice by Clint Bolick of the Institute for Justice on Friday. I was also there and introduced myself before asking Mr. Bolick a question. Tricia recognized my name and after the lecture came up and introduced herself. Wow, you folks are everywhere! Actually, that's VERY comforting to know. Lastly, as if I didn't have enough to be happy about with this week's elections, I received the following note from Sonna Lynn Fernandez: "Chuck. You taught a really great class in Las Vegas [in July], because I used everything you taught us in Canyon County (second largest county and city in Idaho) and it all worked (like I ever doubted you)! REPUBLICAN Governor Kempthorne won again and the GOP took every seat in the statewide candidates race except for the Superintendent of Public Instruction (but he only lost by a narrow margin). Thanks for the lessons learned.I have shared much of the information you trained us on with local candidates (especially Matt Beebe who won his County Commissioner race) and some of our legislative candidates. Many wished they would have come to the class but were happy that I could share the knowledge wealth. They especially liked the advertisement information the best and put it to good use." And then I received this one from my buddy Mike Mooreland in Walton, Kentucky - who is now a Justice of the Peace in Boone County. "FYI. Several attendees of your Belterra Casino campaign training school last May 2001 won their elections, including me. Thanks again, Chuck." And just as gratifying was this note from Ron Goodwyne of Mt Pleasant, South Carolina... "In part because of you, I got involved this year and helped with the combined campaigns of Lindsey Graham and Mark Sanford. Together with more than two thousand other volunteers throughout the state of South Carolina, we did the grass roots work that the Democrats have been so successful at in the past. "Personally I made phone calls, walked neighborhoods, put up signs and served as a GOP Poll Watcher on election day in a hostile Democratic precinct. Boy was that interesting! But this kind of work got Republicans to the polls and prevented some voter fraud. "Thanks for all the great material you put out and the encouragement you give to those of us in the trenches. Yours is the first, and sometimes only, newsletter I read each day. Keep up the good work!" Hoo-hah. Folks like y'all make it all worthwhile. Thank YOU! Now, it's time to get right back to work and prepare for the coming Democrat onslaught in 2004. Wasting NO time, the Leadership Institute - which you all know by now is THE best political training organization in the country today - will be conducting its Grassroots Activist School in Arlington, Virginia on December 7-8. The usual tuition, I think, is around $150 (and worth every penny). But since I'll be one of the volunteer guest instructors, I've been able to persuade Matt Lewis, who runs the school, to let any of you who mention my name when you register a can't-beat-that deal of just $25. That includes both full days of training, all the training materials and hand-outs plus breakfast and lunch both days. If you're ready to hop back in the saddle and can join us in a few weeks, call Matt at (800) 827-5323. *********************************** And the Beat Goes On "Three Georgia Democratic state senators are crossing the aisle, giving the GOP its first-ever majority in the chamber. With the additional senators, the Republicans will have a 29-to-27 seat majority in the Senate." And... "Control of the North Carolina House of Representatives has gone to the Republicans, according to the office of the Secretary of State. A recanvass of ballots in Wayne County revealed the GOP gained a seat previously thought won by the Democrats. The GOP now has a 61-to-59 seat majority." - UPI, 11/8/02 *************************** Those Compassionate Democrats "I hate him. He was never a leader, only a follower of the right-wing agenda." - Maryland voter Lori Eisner on why she voted against Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Ehrlich, Washington Times, 11/6/02 *************************** Bullying Tactics Didn't Work This Time "(GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob) Ehrlich campaign headquarters in Baltimore received several calls from poll workers who said they had been intimidated and harassed at the polling places. Some described the encounters as being 'roughed up.' Officials told the workers to report the incidents to police, who arrived too late to make any arrests." - Washington Times, 11/6/02 ************************************ When You Sleep With Dogs, You Eventually Get Fleas Rep. Connie Morella, Maryland Republican, was arguably the LEAST conservative Republican in Congress. Her ACU rating was a dismal 12. TWELVE out of 100. But, the conventional wisdom said, she had to be that liberal or the Democrats in her district wouldn't vote for her. Well, despite her liberal voting record and wonderful personal demeanor, the Democrats in Morella's district turned on her like rabid dogs on Tuesday. Here's what one voter told the Washington Times: "(Mrs. Morella) has been a wonderful representative," said Elizabeth Purcell. Nevertheless, Purcell voted for her opponent. "It wasn't so much a vote against Connie Morella; it was more a vote for a Democratic person." So there you have it. Republicans can bend over backwards sucking up to liberal Democrats and voting for their agenda, but when given a chance, those Democrats will turn on you in a New York minute. There's a lesson here for liberal Republicans elsewhere in the country who continually thumb their noses at the GOP's conservative base. Maybe (hopefully) they'll take heed and change their ways. Yeah, when pigs fly. *********************************** Higher Taxes? Hell, No! Northern Virginia voters, by all accounts, suffer from some of the worst traffic gridlock in the nation. The Democrat governor's answer: higher taxes. No surprise there. So a ballot measure was presented to voters in the area to boost the community's sales tax by half a cent to pay for road projects. The proposal not only gained the backing of the area's Democrats, but a large number of Republican elected officials, as well. Despite that overwhelming support for the tax hike by the elected elites, the voters themselves smashed the ballot measure on Tuesday. When will politicians learn that voters don't feel they're undertaxed, but that the government over-spends or mis-spends? Probably about the same time pigs start flying. *********************************** Here's One for the Record Books "One more historical footnote from the 2002 election: by virtue of his defeat in Tuesday's election, former Vice President Walter 'Fritz' Mondale is now the only man in history to lose an election in all fifty states. In the 1984 presidential race, he lost 49 states -- carrying only Minnesota -- which he lost on Tuesday." - Peter Roff, UPI's Capital Comment, 11/8/02 *********************************** That Carter/Mondale Mystique "If there's one state where Republicans did better than in Minnesota, it's Georgia. . . . What do Georgia and Minnesota have in common, aside from big Republican gains? Both states have recently seen the reappearance of a once-prominent Democratic politician of the past--in Minnesota's case, (Walter Mondale) as a Senate candidate; in Georgia's, (Jimmy Carter) as a Nobel Peace Prize winner. "And there were other indications that it was a bad election for Democratic nostalgia: The Carter-Mondale ticket carried six states in 1980: Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, Rhode Island and West Virginia. West Virginia elects its governors in presidential years, but all five of the other states elected Republican governors." - Best of the Web, 11/6/02 *********************************** Retread Party Resurrecting Monkey Business "Saying the nation needs leadership and politics is starving for ideas, (former Rep.Gary) Hart, 65, said he has begun taking seriously the urging of friends that he seek the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination." - Denver Post, 11/5/02 *********************************** Libertarians Screw the Pooch Again According to the most recent poll results - still subject to a possible recount or challenge - Republican John Thune lost his bid to knock off incumbent Sen. Tim Johnson in South Dakota by a lousy 528 votes. A stinkin' , lousy 528 votes. Please take note that Thune had racked up a respectable lifetime ACU conservative rating of 83, while Johnson earned a pathetic 21. So this was a clear choice between a government-loving incumbent liberal and a limited-government conservative. Yet the Libertarian Party put up a spoiler candidate, Kurt Evans, who garnered 3,071 votes on Tuesday - more than enough to have changed the outcome of this race and given the limited government cause an additional voice in the Senate. To Evans' credit, he dropped out of the race and endorsed Thune about a month before the election, but not soon enough to have his name removed from the ballot. Knowing this was likely to be a neck-and-neck race from the beginning - and that control of the Senate may well have hinged on this one race - it defies common sense for the Libertarian Party to have gotten into this one at all. Evans never had a prayer of winning; the only thing he could have POSSIBLY done was serve as a "spoiler" who would throw the race to Johnson...which he did. Again, though, I give Evans credit for seeing the light - even if too late. What I can't excuse are the 3,071 supposedly limited-government numbskulls who voted for a candidate who had dropped out of the race and never had a chance in the first place and thus gave another six-year term to a guy who stands against just about everything they stand for. Thanks again, Libertarians. Could you at least put the bong down before voting again in 2004. ********************************* ********************************* Published by The Goldwater Club Chuck Muth, Editor/Publisher P.O. Box 19893 Alexandria, VA 22320 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] The opinions and views expressed in Chuck Muth's News & Views reflect those of the writers, editors and columnists therein and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the sponsors, advertisers ... heck, even some of our readers. To be REMOVED, go to: http://www.chuckmuth.com/newsletter/ and complete the removal request instructions you'll find there. Or send your request to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # #
