Republican Richard Mourdock, candidate for the US Senate in Indiana, has a new ad out (above). His email announcement reads in part:
Our new TV ad, “Better Off?” hits the airwaves today, and it focuses on our message of bringing Hoosier common sense to Washington. I will prioritize balancing the budget, paying down our debts and creating new jobs. Joe Donnelly has a record of supporting failed big government experiments that haven’t improved our economy.
Here's the YouTube description for the video:
Are you better off?
Washington politicians like President Obama and Congressman Donnelly had their chance, but they've only made things worse.
The Steelman email announcing the ad above which features Sarah Palin opened with:
Gov. Sarah Palin appears in a television ad airing today across Missouri in which she calls Sarah Steelman, “an economist who defends our tax dollars like a mama grizzly defends her cubs."
I have to admit that Palin's endorsement of Steelman is a bit of head scratcher. Some have been much more critical. Palin's willingness to cut an ad for Steelman underscores her commitment to that unexpected endorsement.
A complaint has been filed with the Federal Election Commission alleging improprieties in the use of funds by the Missouri Leadership Committee and Steelman for US Senate. The Missouri Leadership Committee is not registered with the FEC, yet it has contributed to Sarah Steelman's federal campaign committee, Steelman for US Senate. The complaint alleges that Chairman of the Steelman Campaign and Speaker of the Missouri House, Steve Tilley, was instrumental in directing $25,000 from the Missouri Leadership Committee to Steelman for US Senate. The specific allegations are:
(1) Missouri Leadership Committee failed to register as a political committee with the FEC when it spent more than $1,000 to influence a federal election;
(2) The Steelman Campaign, through its agent and campaign chairman, financed, directed, or controlled non-federal funds by furnishing $25,000 to Now or Never PAC through Missouri Leadership, a state committee financed by Friends of Steve Tilley.
That doesn't surprise me because Maldonado ran for US Senate in 2010. While he finished fourth in that primary behind Roy Blunt, Chuck Purgason, and Kristi Nichols, he was able to develop his name recognition among conservatives across the Show Me state. In fact, I thought he won a 2010 AFP US Senate candidate forum.
All three of Maldonado's primary opponents have demonstrated significant weaknesses. Steelman is a disastrous public speaker with ties to unions and trial lawyers. Brunner has demonstrated a propensity for blaming others and an inability to control his campaign spending. Akin's greatest weakness is that he'd have to defend his numerous earmarks against Claire McCaskill's strict no earmark policy. In effect, McCaskill would be able to credibly run to Akin's right on fiscal issues during the general election.
Given the weak field, his respectable performance in 2010, and the fact that he seems to be garnering some interest at candidate events around the state, it is conceivable that Hector Maldonado could ride his dark horse campaign to victory on August 7th in what's shaping up to be a four-way race.
If you believe the Democratic Party, Bain Capital is nothing but a bunch of vampire capitalists. They outsource jobs to other countries, close steel mills and take lollypops from little babies.
According to Open Secrets, during the present election cycle these Democratic Party candidates took a total of $340,750 from Bain, its lobbyists and employees. Even the Obama re-election campaign took money from Bain Capital. So if the Democrats believe Bain is so evil, why are these candidates taking their money?
Note: The Barack Obama contributions are not from open secrets but directly from the FEC here and here.
Fettig helped lead the tea party charge that propelled Richard Mourdock over six-term incumbent Sen. Richard Lugar in Indiana’s May 8 Republican primary. That effort led FreedomWorks’ Matt Kibbe to call the tea party activism in the state the “gold standard” in electioneering.
Fettig recently spoke with The Daily Caller’s Ginni Thomas about why Lugar lost, the lessons he learned from the effort that could help other tea party activists, whether Mourdock will be able to win in November and much more.
Greg Fettig and the Tea Parties of Indiana learned in 2010 the importance of uniting behind one Tea Party candidate when the four US Senate candidates that various Indiana Tea Partiers had supported lost to the establishment candidate. Fettig discusses several other lessons. Watch the whole thing.
U.S. Senate candidate John Brunner released the following statement in response to attacks from Sarah Steelman’s campaign regarding a donation to the Humane Farming Association:
“As a young child, my father taught me the value of charitable giving and I passed those same, important, values on to my children.
In that spirit, I set up the Brunner Foundation to encourage my children to become active in charity. I made it clear that each of them could give to the charity of their choice and that it would remain, solely, each child’s individual decision.
In 2007, one of my children chose as a beneficiary the Humane Farming Association. I am extremely proud of my children, but, as with most families, I do not always agree with their choices or decisions. Regrettably, there are organizations that far too often use deceptive rhetoric and tactics to deceive well-meaning people into supporting their far more dangerous agendas. But, let me be perfectly clear, I, personally, have never supported the Humane Farming Association.
As Missouri’s next citizen-Senator, I pledge to fight for Missouri’s agribusiness by halting absurd EPA mandates, work tirelessly to repeal crippling regulations, and eliminate barriers to trade that are preventing Missouri farmers from exporting their crops. I firmly stand with Missouri farmers who are in a constant struggle against extreme groups like the Humane Farming Association and the Humane Society of the United States that seek to end the agriculture industry in Missouri.
Furthermore, I fully expect that families remain free from political attacks. I will keep this campaign focused on the issues and I fully expect my fellow opponents to do the same.
Rather than a bold statement, he seems to have chickened out. His closing caveat about families remaining "free from political attacks" is interesting. It's as if he realized only afterward that he himself just inserted his family into the story. Um, John, don't do that again until after the November election.
As MoSenateRace clarified, Brunner's children are not trustees of the Brunner Foundation. Only John and his wife are, so Brunner (and his wife) are ultimately responsible for the donation decisions of the Foundation.
In a way it's laudable that Brunner would share the stewardship of his Foundation with his children. As a stay-at-home dad, I sometimes let my children help prepare dinner and assist with other work around the house. That's one aspect of raising a family.
Of course, in another way it's rather horrifying. If Brunner is elected to the US Senate, will he share the responsibilities of that office with his children? Would his son, say, be in charge of making decisions for his US Senate office on all Department of Defense issues? Does his daughter have more of an aptitude for military affairs? Will they squabble over whether or not the MRE's include free-range chicken?
I don't think that Brunner's candor about his parenting techniques is in the best interests of his campaign. Talking about his children may endear him to his supporters, but it makes his family a potential target in the media. It also feels like he's shifting the blame to a family member much as his Democrat opponent Senator Claire McCaskill once did over her back taxes (from the 8/14/2004 KC Star):
As for the condo at the Lake of the Ozarks, McCaskill acknowledged there were unpaid taxes on it in 1994, when her brother, Will, was living in it. The Kansas City Star reported the story in 1994 after Camden County published a notice that it was going to put the house up for auction.
"The agreement was he (Will) was supposed to cover all taxes, overhead, everything - utilities, taxes, condo fees - so he didn't have to pay rent," McCaskill said. "My brother didn't pay them."
McCaskill's brother later paid the $2,337 in taxes dating to 1991, and the property was sold soon afterward.
Agricultural issues are important to every Midwestern state, so the three candidates running in the GOP primary for US Senate from Missouri--Todd Akin, Sarah Steelman, and John Brunner--need to prioritize agricultural issues if they hope to secure the votes of rural Missourians in the August primary.
With that in mind it came as a surprise to me that Republican US Senate candidate John Brunner appears to have once supported a radical animal rights group. According to the Brunner Foundation's 2008 form 990-PF (embedded below), the Foundation donated $10,000 to the Humane Farming Association (HFA). John Brunner and his wife serve as the two trustees of that foundation, so, does Brunner support the leftist agenda of HFA?
HFA is a radical animal rights group based in California. They work to limit or even outlaw the use of antibiotics and pesticides by ranchers and farmers. From their website:
HFA's goals are to protect farm animals from cruelty and abuse, to protect the public from the misuse of antibiotics, hormones, and other chemicals used on factory farms, and to protect the environment from the impacts of industrialized animal factories.
The responsible use of antibiotics, hormones, and other chemicals serves two purposes. First, it promotes the health and welfare of the animals which insures a successful agri-business and, second, it keeps consumers safe. Does Brunner want to outlaw or over-regulate the use of antibiotics and pesticides? If not, why did he donate to HFA?
The Brunner funded HFA also supports outlawing cage-raised poultry. Such a policy would drive up the cost of the eggs and chickens you buy at the grocery store because the new regulations HFA espouses would force farmers to change their farming practices increasing the cost of production. HFA seems to be advocating policies that would ensure that every chicken sold in the country is a free range chicken.
The fact that Brunner gave thousands of dollars to this radical group is extremely disconcerting. It suggests that either he does not understand the importance of Missouri agriculture or that he uncritically accepted HFA's anti-agriculture propaganda. This raises serious questions. Why did he donate $10,000 to a radical, leftist animal rights group? How does he in good conscience fly around the state of Missouri touting his support of farming while financing a radical group like HFA? And, most importantly, does he support their radical agenda?
Missouri Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill’s three leading Republican challengers all now earn 50% or more of the vote in matchups with her.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Missouri Voters shows former State Treasurer Sarah Steelman with the widest lead. She’s ahead of McCaskill by 12 points, 51% to 39%. Three percent (3%) like another candidate, and seven percent (7%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
First it was the damn plane, then the damn condo... is it any wonder that Claire McCaskill is trailing in the polls?
US Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) (left) endorses GOP candidate John Brunner (right) for US Senate from Missouri
US Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) was in St. Louis on Wednesday to endorse Republican John Brunner who is running to replace Claire McCaskill (D-MO) in the US Senate. In the video below, Johnson explains that we need candidates running for office, like John Brunner, who are running not for the title or as career politicians, but because they feel they have a duty to serve the country in this time of need.
Q&A with Ron Johnson at John Brunner HQ. I led off the questioning by asking about the lessons Senator Johnson learned in his race for Vice Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference last December.
Sarah Palin threw her voice into the Texas Republican Senate race on Thursday, endorsing tea party favorite Ted Cruz less than three weeks before the state's primary.
"We're proud to join conservatives in Texas and throughout the nation in supporting your campaign to become the next Senator from the Lone Star State," Palin wrote in a letter to Cruz, which was released by his campaign.
Palin's endorsement of Richard Mourdock in Indiana contributed to his lopsided victory over Dick Lugar. It's good to see that she's getting involved in other primary fights. Hopefully, her endorsement of Ted Cruz to represent the great state of Texas in the US Senate will help push him over the top.
Here are some video highlights from Saturday's Rally for Richard Mourdock in Indianapolis. The rally was sponsored by FreedomWorks. Michelle Malkin keynoted the show. Hoosier Tea Parties deserve the credit for providing the manpower and hard work that's gone into the get-out-the-vote (GOTV).
Below are videos of several of the speeches Saturday. Thanks so much to Alex of ConservativeTVOnline.com. He is by far the best St. Louis-based Tea Party videographer--we all aspire to be as good as him some day!
Republican candidate for the US Senate from Missouri Todd Akin spoke to the Gateway Civil Liberties Alliance earlier this week. Akin spoke about his conservative record in the US House of Representatives--a record which has earned him an 80% rating from Heritage Action, the best rating of Missouri's Congressional delegation. He intertwined his family's story with American history in talking about our core values of liberty, faith, and freedom. After his 18 minute introduction, Akin took questions from the audience (below).
Akin faces a crowded field in the August Republican primary against John Brunner, Sarah Steelman, and Hector Maldonado. If he prevails, he'll face Democrat Claire McCaskill next November.
On her Twitter account, Representative Michele Bachmann endorses state treasurer Richard Mourdock in his beat to unseat Senator Dick Lugar. “I am happy to endorse @RichardMourdock today,” Bachmann writes. “Richard is a true conservative and we can count on him to stand up for our values.”
In Indiana, State Treasurer Richard Mourdock is blazing a trail to clear the way for future conservative grassroots (Tea Party) campaigns against entrenched interests and their proxies in the US Senate like Mourdock's primary opponent, Dick Lugar. Allysia Finley of the Wall Street Journal wrote about Mourdock's insurgent campaign earlier this week and concluded [emphasis added]:
Mr. Mourdock isn't endearing himself to the party's elders by picking a fight with Grandpa. But Republicans need fighters in the Senate, not diplomats. President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have shown no intention of negotiating in good faith with Republicans. So accomplishing tax and entitlement reform will require the GOP to win the war of public opinion. Indiana's gutsy and articulate tea partier is just the kind of guy Republicans need on the frontlines.
It's the establishment elders of the Republican apparatus in DC that have opposed Mourdock and fought instead to conserve the status quo. In winning the support of Indiana's GOP county chairmen, Richard Mourdock had taken the first step to state-wide victory. A step articulate by Phyllis Schlafly in her 1964 book: A Choice Not an Echo. I interviewed Schlafly about that book two years ago. Here she is talking about the importance of having a plan to take over the party:
Endorsements and grassroots support for a candidate are useless unless they are galvanized into the party apparatus. Utah provides two illustrative examples. In 2010 Tea Partiers were able to force Bob Bennet into a primary and ultimately elect Tea Party favorite Mike Lee. This year they've forced Orrin Hatch into a primary. Grassroots success in Utah is in part due to the unique system that state uses to select their candidates. At the state party convention, if a candidate does not receive 60% of the vote from the delegates, then they must run against the person who received the second most delegate votes in a state-wide primary. Hopefully, Dan Liljenquist will be able to unseat 36-year incumbent Orrin Hatch.
The system in Utah favors the candidates who are able to get their supporters to show up to the state convention. It also clears the field of tertiary candidates that bleed money and activists from the most credible challenger. I'd love to see that system adopted in my own state of Missouri.
In the 2010 US Senate GOP primary in Missouri, Tea Party favorite Chuck Purgason had good grassroots support; however, there were other, credible Tea Party challengers in that race. Purgason's real problem was that he was never able to overcome his money deficit. He simply couldn't afford the radio and TV airtime he needed to boost his name recognition.
Garnering a groundswell of grassroots support to transform the state party is the first step. The second step in the plan is money, lots and lots of money.
The reality is that state-wide elections are driven by name recognition. They are, sadly, popularity contests.
Unfortunately, conservative grassroots activists rarely have the money to make a difference. In 2010, when establishment conservative interests aligned with Tea Party interests, funding was readily available from establishment sources for Tea Party candidates. In 2012 that's no longer the case. Without the money to mount the air war on TV and radio, Tea Party candidates have little chance of beating their incumbent opponents.
Todd Akin talks about his campaign for US Senate at the Bonhomme Republican Women's Club on Friday. Akin noted the overwhelming debt confronting the country. He also reviewed his record and his vision for the state and the country.
Monthly Federal Surplus/Deficit (blue, right axis) and Total Federal Government Debt (red, left axis) since 1977
Dick Lugar was first elected to the US Senate in 1976 and began his career in Washington, DC, in January of 1977. As the chart above from the St. Louis Federal Reserve illustrates, there have been a few budget deficits on his watch--and a couple surpluses. Here are some fun facts about the fiscal reality confronting Dick Lugar as he faces a tough May 8th primary against Tea Party favorite Richard Mourdock:
INDIANAPOLIS (March 14, 2012) – Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock, U.S. Senate Candidate in the Republican Primary on May 8th against six-term incumbent Dick Lugar, will begin airing “Changes” on statewide TV and radio today.
The ad makes the point that the Dick Lugar who permanently moved to Washington, DC, in the 1970s is not the same Dick Lugar who is currently seeking a seventh term in the U.S. Senate.
“Over the past three decades, Lugar has become increasingly out of touch with Hoosier Republicans and the conservative values we embrace,” stated Treasurer Mourdock."
“From slashing Medicare to advocating for middle class tax hikes, Claire McCaskill dependably sides with President Obama to vote against what is best for Missouri,” said Nate Hodson, Crossroads GPS Director of State and Regional Media Relations. “Missourians should tell Claire McCaskill to stop voting in Washington differently than she talks when home.”
Not surprisingly, Lugar is using scare tactics, claiming the seat will be lost to Democrats if Lugar is not the nominee. That’s nonsense.
Indiana is a solid Republican state, and it was a historical fluke that it voted for Obama in 2008. The likely Democratic nominee, Congressman Joe Donnelly, is a weak candidate who only is running for Senate because he was redistricted. In my conversation with Mourdock, Mourdock pointed out that in the last election, when Mourdock was running for State Treasurer, Mourdock received more votes in Donnelly’s district than Donnelly received.
Tea Party Conservative who began blogging at http://RebootCongress.NET when TARP passed. Email me: contact@RebootCongress.net. Help support my work: Donate Bitcoins
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