If you are unable to view html within your email program please use the following link to view Chuck Muth's latest News and Views: http://chuckmuth.com/newsandviews/nv.cfm To unsubscribe please visit: http://www.chuckmuth.com/remove X-ListMember: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
____________________________ DC CONFIDENTIAL May 9, 2004 ____________________________ CHUCK MUTH FILES FOR OFFICE! “The deadline for candidates to file for positions on the Britton-Hecla and Langford School Boards is Friday, May 14,” reports the Marshall County Journal in South Dakota. “Two Britton-Hecla petitions have been filed. Both Darrell Lloyd and Chuck Muth have filed for three-year terms.” Alas, it’s a different Chuck Muth. But who would have ever thought there could be two “Chuck Muth’s” in American politics? Isn’t that one of the seven signs of the apocalypse? SO MUCH FOR CONVENTIONAL WISDOM “It probably means we’ll go out and raise some serious money,” said Rep. Chris Cannon (R-Utah) yesterday after his unexpected and stunning setback at the Utah Republican convention...blamed primarily on his pro-amnesty positions on illegal immigration. In an unusual selection process, candidates in a contested Utah primary can avoid a vote of the people if they are able to garner 60% or more of the votes of convention delegates. This is a process which heavily favors incumbents such as Cannon - especially since his brother is the state GOP party chairman. So the fact that Cannon - who garnered just 57% of the vote of hard-core party insiders - was forced by delegates to face the music in front of “the great unwashed” who don’t share his embrace of illegal aliens is a BIG deal. This flies in the face of the conventional “inside the beltway” wisdom which says that immigration is not an issue which moves voters (President Bush, take note). Cannon will face-off against conservative former state senator Matt Throckmorton in a June 22 primary. The fact that Cannon’s first thought following the convention results was that he was going to need to go out and “raise some serious money” shows just how scared he is about this threat to his political career. The key for Throckmorton now will be to bring in a “killer” campaign strategist with documented success in taking out incumbents in primary races such as this. It’s one thing to campaign among a small group of a couple thousand convention delegates; it’s another thing altogether to campaign against a wealthy incumbent in the general public. While surprisingly successful in forcing Cannon into a primary, the fact is, Matt still came in second with 43% of the vote. Cannon’s incumbency and personal wealth will make it VERY difficult to knock him off. This is no time for inexperience and on-the-job training for campaign staff (especially not with just over a month to go). More races are lost, not because of bad candidates, but because of bad, poorly executed campaigns (just ask Pat Toomey). Cannon may be a bad guy, but he’ll hire the best he can dig up to “spin” the public on his actual record and protect his hide. Throckmorton is decidedly the good guy here, but he needs to immediately hire professionals who can carry him over the finish line. It’s also no time to delude oneself that this race can be won on a shoestring budget. Throckmorton needs to be on the phones RIGHT NOW raising as much dough as humanly possible if he’s to have any shot on June 22nd. Money isn’t given; it’s raised. Matt, why haven’t you called me yet? HELP WANTED The College Republicans are hiring field workers for the fall campaign. You must be willing to travel and be on the road for 11 weeks...which means no other job and no school next fall. For more information or to apply online, go to: www.collegerepublicans.org. BREWING INTRA-PARTY FIGHT Former Colorado Rep. Bob Schaffer is now locked in a Republican primary fight - growing more and more bitter day by day - with beer baron Pete Coors for the nomination to run against Democrat AG Ken Salazar for retiring Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell’s seat. Both candidates are decidedly conservative; however, Schaffer is seen as “being on the far-right fringe, not just on fiscal issues, but he’s also carrying a good deal of religious right agenda with him,” according to Colorado State University professor John Strayer. Because of this perception, Coors has been judged by many party leaders to be the more electable. And having a wallet as big as the Grand Tetons doesn’t hurt either. The primary is scheduled for August 10...and a lot of bad blood is likely to be spilled between now and then. RINO RETIRES New York Rep. Jack Quinn (ACU Lifetime Rating of 67) becomes the second Republican-In-Name-Only (RINO) to announce his retirement at the end of this term, joining fellow liberal Republican Amo Houghton (ACU Lifetime Rating of 53) in riding off into the sunset. It’s a shame Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (ACU Lifetime Rating of 39) hasn’t taken the hint, as well, but perhaps he can be forcibly put out to pasture in the primary later this year. RINO HUNTERS SET SIGHTS IN OKLAHOMA The Club for Growth - the feared, great right RINO hunters - who came within a whisker of taking down liberal Republican “Snarlin’” Arlen Specter last week, has now trained its political guns on Nebraska Speaker Curt Bromm, the lead dog in the Republican primary race for the open congressional seat in that state’s first district. CFG chief Steve Moore calls Bromm a "tax-and-spend liberal Republican...who spearheaded (Nebraska’s) big tax increase last year." The primary is this Tuesday. ONE HECKUVA GOOD CANDIDATE Most candidates you bump into are...well, boring. Mediocre speakers with forked tongues, at best. Watching paint dry or the grass grow is more interesting. You know the drill. Well, I’m pleased to say I ran into a Republican candidate recently who completely shatters that mold. Janice Bowling is running in the 4th congressional district in Tennessee...and what an entertaining ball of conservative fire. What a welcome breath of fresh air this lady would bring to the halls of Congress. Check her out on the web at www.bowlingforcongress.com. BAD NEWS IN THE BADLANDS Despite eternal optimism, Republican insiders have all but resigned themselves to losing Rep. Bill Janklow’s seat in the special election scheduled for June 1 in South Dakota. Janklow was forced out of office after being sentenced to jail for his role in a fatal traffic accident. Democrat Stephanie Herseth, described by some political observers as a real “babe,” holds a commanding lead over GOP opponent Larry Diedrich. Although Diedrich is a highly regarded state senator, Herseth comes from a well-known and respected South Dakota family and almost took out Janklow in 2002. SHOE ON THE OTHER FOOT In races up and down the ballot from coast to coast, the presence of a Libertarian Party candidate on the ballot often serves as nothing more than a spoiler for the otherwise electable Republican candidate. Well, down in Virginia Beach, Virginia, this week, the LP actually put up a credible candidate who ran a credible campaign. Although the Democrat mayor was re-elected (barely) with 51% of the vote, LP candidate Robert Dean came in second with a solid 43%...while the GOP challenger posted a pathetic 6%. We’d like to think this is the start of a trend, with the Libertarian Party actually taking seriously the prospect of winning local and state elections instead of just being skunks at the political picnic. Alas, this was more likely the exception which proves the rule. Let’s hope not. The GOP could use a good kick in its constitutional pants. REV. ROY’S REVENGE “The possibility that Roy Moore could challenge President Bush in November may not be costing Karl Rove any sleep — yet. But the chance that the popular conservative judge could do to Bush what Ralph Nader did to Al Gore in 2000 — split his ideological base and cost him the presidency — has analysts crunching numbers and weighing Moore's chances,” writes Fred Clarkson in Salon.com about the former Alabama judge who made a name for himself by erecting a 2.5-ton granite shrine to the Ten Commandments in the rotunda of the state courthouse...only to have a federal judge order it taken down. "Meanwhile, the 57-year-old Moore is acting more and more like a candidate as he crisscrosses the country, speaking at gatherings of Christian rightists, home-schoolers and state conventions of the far-right Constitution Party, which was on 41 state ballots in the 2000 election and is courting Moore to head its ticket. If he ran on the Constitution Party ticket, he would probably be on more state ballots than Nader this year.” Moore will have to decide by the time of the party’s convention June 22-26. THE LOW-DOWN ON THE CONSITUTION PARTY Its name attracts immediate attention from limited government conservatives looking for an alternative to go-along-to-get-along Republicans and the drugs-and-open-borders Libertarians. But make no mistake, the Constitution Party (http://www.constitutionparty.com) is decidedly a group of religious conservatives. However, they are also decidedly unlike many of the fundamentalist Christians we’ve become accustomed to who support limited government - EXCEPT when it suits their own religious and social agenda. Indeed, the Constitution Party takes a backseat to no one in bashing “sodomites;” however, they are adamantly opposed to a federal marriage amendment on the grounds that...get this...government doesn’t belong in the institution of marriage in the first place. An eminently logical, reasonable and practical separation of church and state doctrine which I swear I’ve heard somewhere before. :) If more social conservatives took this kind of consistent constitutional position with regard to religious vs. government issues, maybe the general public wouldn’t be so afraid of the notion of them getting into power and establishing some kind of Christian theocracy. If such constitutionally-focused Christians, rational libertarians (no, that’s not an oxymoron) and disaffected Goldwater Republicans ever sat down and found enough common ground to stop splitting their votes, there just might be a shot at returning to the governing principles established by our Founding Fathers. Was that a pig I just saw fly by? THE GOLDWATER DOCTRINE “I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution, or that have failed in their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is 'needed' before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be attacked for neglecting my constituents' interests, I shall reply that I was informed their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am doing the very best I can.” - Barry Goldwater, “The Conscience of a Conservative” ************************* Published by Citizen Outreach Chuck Muth Editor/Publisher 611 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, #439 Washington, DC 20003-4303 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Citizen Outreach is a 501(c)(3) non-profit public policy organization and does not endorse candidates or lobby for specific legislation. The opinions and views expressed in DC Confidential reflect those of the writers, editors and columnists therein and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Citizen Outreach, its officers, directors or employees.
