NRSC Knows Best: Indiana

Posted By Kevin Tracy at 1:23 am on February 9, 2010

Former US Senator and east-coast lobbyist Dan Coats.

The title of this post is meant to be sarcastic. The entire population has witnessed how corrupt and idiotic the National Republican Senatatorial Committee can be when they endorsed the liberal Governor and Obama stimulus supporter, Charlie Crist, over conservative Speaker of the Florida House, Marco Rubio with more than a year left before the Primary. Conservatives rallied behind the young and energetic Republican, however and what was once an enormous gap in support between Rubio and Crist has been closed and the race is tighter than ever.

Well, the corruption of the NRSC under Republican Senator Cornyn (Texas) truly knows no bounds. The Senate Race against Senator Evan Bayh in Indiana has been underway since the summer of 2009. Unlike Florida, we have a plethora of candidates with various backgrounds and ideologies… it’s also been a shockingly positive Republican primary by modern standards. Well, out of nowhere came Dan Coats. Dan Coats is the former Senator of Indiana who resigned just as Evan Bayh was completing his time as Governor and made it clear he wanted to run for Senate. Coats knew he wouldn’t have been able to beat Bayh… but in 2010, Bayh appears vulnerable and, what do you know, the guy is back from his time as a lobbyist out east.

Say what you will about Coats, I don’t care. We have an endorsement process here at www.ktracy.com and we’re going to follow it, which means we’re going to support the best candidate. Coats isn’t really the issue here. The issue here is the NRSC endorsing Coats when there are three other credible contenders in the race, including Marlin Stutzman, who has already spent a ton of money and time on his campaign.

The NRSC did this after vowing not to spend money or time in Indiana. While that annoyed me at first, I really wish Cornyn and his cronies kept their corrupt fingers out of my state. Since this happened, insiders in the state party and NRSC has supposedly asked Marlin Stutzman (and probably the others) to step aside and let Coats take the primary without a fight.

UPDATE: Stutzman is now saying he was never pressured by the IN GOP to get out of the race. This was contrary to what I had heard from a usually reliable source earlier. That actually comes as a huge relief to me. Not only am I allowed to continue my love fest for my state party, but it lets us focus more on the Evil Empire of the Republican Party, the NRSC.

These guys have put MONTHS of hard work in across the state, meeting with countless party activists and officials at all levels, exposing themselves and their families to state media scrutiny, and you want them to just step aside like it never happened?

Thankfully, Stutzman and the others are doing the right thing and staying in the race. But here’s what I don’t understand: If the NRSC and GOP insiders in Indiana want to play politics like this, why the hell do we have a primary in May that costs taxpayers a fortune? It would be a LOT cheaper for the State of Indiana if we just went back to the Convention system and nominated all of our candidates that way. This would save taxpayers a lot of money and allow the corrupt politicians like Senator Cornyn screw around in state politics all their greedy little hearts desire!

No, I’m not advocating that. I’m a strong supporter of the primary process. What I am advocating is that the NRSC gets the hell out of Indiana, Florida, and every other state where there is a primary battle underway. Who the hell does Cornyn and the NRSC think they are to decide what kind of representation conservatives need and deserve in their states?

The Republican Party used to be a party that believed the best decisions in the country were made by individuals, not by Washington elitists. Senator Cornyn has repeatedly betrayed that conservative value and when Republicans fail to take back the US Senate in what SHOULD be a sweeping election, he deserves to be held directly responsible for that failure.

Let Dan Coats earn our support like every other Republican in the race.

UPDATE: This didn’t take long…

Comments (10)

10 Comments »

Comment by Kevin Tracy on February 9, 2010

Let me make this absolutely clear. Coats may very well be the best candidate for the job; but that’s a decision that should be made by WE THE PEOPLE OF INDIANA and not John Cornyn of Texas and the NRSC.

Comment by daltonsbriefs on February 9, 2010

Great post kevin, what’s even more horrifying to many is that Dan Coats has spent his time in Washington as a lobbyist and word has it that clients include Bank of America, an oil company associated with Hugo Chavez and the Nation of Yemen. I agree he was a great Senator in the past for us, but this isn’t the year for him to run. Bayh will eat his lunch.

Comment by Kevin Tracy on February 9, 2010

Everything I’m seeing now makes me wonder what people are thinking by getting him in the race. I sort of wonder if it’s nothing but pure money. If that’s the case, we’ve got a serious problem on our hands at the national (and possibly the state) level.

Still, I’m not going to pass judgment on the guy until I hear his side of things. Like you said, he was a great Senator for us after Dan Quayle went on the national ticket in 1988, so he at least deserves serious consideration. I’d be lying if I said electability wasn’t an enormous concern with this guy at the moment, though.

Comment by Aaron on February 9, 2010

Kevin, I’ve been waiting for this post. I would be thrilled to see him beaten in the primary for most of the reasons you pointed out

Comment by Kevin Tracy on February 9, 2010

The thing is that I don’t want to vote against him as a way of voting against the NRSC and John Cornyn. If I came out exclusively against Coats now, that’s most of my case against him. In that sense, I’d be doing exactly what the NRSC is doing: ignoring what’s best for Indiana to make a rash political decision based on what’s most convenient for myself.

If Coats is the best man and is even remotely electable, I hope he wins the nomination and the general election. I can’t know that until after he gets in the race and starts campaigning. A lot has changed since Coats last represented Indiana and he’s said and done some things that require some explaining on his part. But I for one want to hear his side of things before making a decision on him one way or another.

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Comment by AWB on February 9, 2010

It was reported this morning that Bayh’s short signatures in the 9th. What makes the NRSC think they can get them if Bayh can’t. They’re 300 short in the 3rd as of yesterday, and with snow for the next couple of days that will hinder them as well.

Steve Shine, Allen County Chair is purportedly working his tail off to get the signatures because John Hostettler supported the “other guy” for the 3rd district chair last year and Shine has vowed to do everything he can to return the favor.

As for supporting Coats, I don’t support him, his time as an Indiana politician has long since passed. He’s not what the populous wants or needs, and IMHO, is not electable.

Comment by Kevin Tracy on February 9, 2010

That’s an interesting point. The filing deadline is a week and a half away. Getting the required signatures is going to require an enormous effort on the behalf of his supporters… especially considering his supporters aren’t in the grassroots (yet, at least). I know there are people you can pay to get these signatures, I worked with them when I was collecting signatures for Governor Huckabee out in Virginia and they are absolutely amazing at what they do. They don’t even take the easy way out like ACORN by getting signatures from Mickey Mouse. So it is certainly possible.

Comment by daltonsbriefs on February 9, 2010

Kevin, dan posted the following today: http://www.angrywhiteboy.org/index.php/2010/02/09/lets-get-the-facts-straight-about-the-indiana-gop/ which links back to this post and suggests that Marlin Stutzman says he has not been asked by state party officials to get out of the race. I talked to my contacts in Indy and they confirmed that their position is not to favor any one candidate.

Comment by Kevin Tracy on February 9, 2010

Updated the post.

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NRSC Knows Best: Indiana

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