Sunday, August 5, 2007

Republicans Iowa Debate And Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

I have been contacted by and in conversation with Stephen Maloney, who is in Pennsylvania and building an online campaign for Alaska governor Sarah Palin to be selected as the Republican VP candidate http://camp2008victorya.blogspot.com/ . You may have read of Palin’s 2006 victory amidst otherwise disappointing Republican results. Fred Barnes wrote an article about that, in The Weekly Standard. It and other links re: Palin will be found at Stephen’s blog. This is the last installment of our email exchange.

I saw your citation of my blog at yours. And, I’ve been seeing your discussions of Huckabee. As I’ve said, on our point of practical disagreement, you are far from alone. I know that my perspective is the atypical one. But our objectives are pretty congruent, and so should be our efforts.

As for the numerous Republican presidential candidates, I really hope that this week, culminating in the Iowa straw poll, will wash out some of the Republican competition. I had some problems with my routine this morning getting ready for church (MS acts like aging in that it has routinized a previously more spontaneous life), and so watched the Iowa/Drake debate, this morning. There were really no big problems and I thought everyone did well (McCain was not especially inspirational – I’m thinking he’s done). I actually think Tommy Thompson is a good guy, more innovative than most, though still more practical than idealistically driven. I like him better than most of the others. But, he’s about as engaging and charismatic as a cantaloupe. But, that’s still better than Brownback’s oatmeal.

Duncan Hunter showed his foreign policy experience and gravitas. But, he isn’t a flying celebrity, either. He may finish better than Tancredo, but that probably won’t get him into the picture. There are some real positive things about Tancredo. But for me, they are doused by some real and insurmountable negatives.

It would be nice to get all of them out: (Tommy – I wish the other one would decide not to run) Thompson, Brownback, Hunter and Tancredo..McCain, too: I wish he was still spending his campaign cash like a “drunken sailor.”. I don’t like others ruling candidates out of the competition, but if they decided themselves, I wouldn’t shed a tear. Though I don’t think Ron Paul can remake the Republican foreign policy view, sounding for the purposes of Republicans, like a Democrat. But, I’m inclined to wish he would stay in the race to sharpen the others on both domestic and foreign policy, where they shouldn’t lose focus because Democrats are sure to pummel them on the issue.

Giuliani, Romney, and Huckabee: wouldn’t that make it nice and crisp? Most all of the other’s support could go to Huckabee, because they already have expressed dissatisfaction with the “frontrunners. That would put him near even footing poll-wise with Giuliani and Romney. And a good Iowa Straw Poll showing (Huckabee showed 3rd in the latest Iowa poll) and the reduced field would kick up the donations, too.

As for Alaska governor Sarah Palin for VP, I already think she would provide more kick to the ticket than any of the other Republican prez candidates. I haven’t found anything to positively object to, yet. Unless I do, I could be supportive. But A) what could I do besides dropping the name, which I would. And B) I imagine you’ve tried contacting the campaigns, and I’m also sure that they are occupied with pressing priorities. But, have you gotten any sense from them about feelings on the matter?

4 comments:

Stephen R. Maloney said...

Larry, as I mentioned sometime ago, the Palin campaign is still at the "clamor" stage, trying to get as many people as possible, bloggers, journalists, politicians, and the like, to talk about her. We have contacted one person who's involved in fundraising from one prominent candidate. After Labor Day, the real push starts. Sarah has to decide by late October or early November if she wants to come out of the woodwork and start getting on Wolf Blitzer, Tim Russert, and similar programs. She also has to decide which candidate she is going to support. She has done nothing to discourage the efforts on her behalf. As I mentioned before, she is not the old-fashioned Republican who "waits his/her turn." Some of us think Giuliani had in mind David Vitter of Louisiana as a possible V-P candidate, something that Vitter's problems have made very unlikely. But yes, we are trying to get to the campaigns through people who play a role in them, such as those who serve as fundraisers.

Larry Perrault said...

Yeah, Vitter's out. But, I still don't think Giuliani will win the nonination. If he does, it will be after getting over the hill of IA-NH, and SC, though it will now be the same day as Florida, which won't be as bad for Giuliani.

If Giuliani wins, it wil be controversial. Some people say that he has the best chance in the general election, but he could lose as much in stay-at-home/3d party types. Especially since a lot of the "middle" are iffy about his war on terror strong suit, I wouldn't be so confident.

I'll be watching Iowa this week, but I'll try to keep an eye on Palin. and should have a more certain disposition, early the week after The Straw Poll. BTW, the ABC pre-debate poll had Huckabee tied with McCain for 3rd in Iowa.

Adam Brickley, aka "ElephantMan" said...

Larry, I started the Palin for Veep buzz, and so I figure I'll answer some of your questions about how exactly people could help with the Palin idea and actually make an impact.

First off, just putting your name on our blogroll at palinforvp.blogspot.com. The basci idea is that before we can really get any campaign's attention, we need to have a lot of support behind us in the form of a long blogroll and a longer mailing list...and I am in the process of building both a a pretty decent speed. This will get a lot of people blogging about Sarah Palin, and cause support to exponentiate. Once we get to that stage, we can then start targeting campaigns (which will be fewer in numberby then) with supportive letters and such...If you want more specific info you can reach me at palinforvp@gmail.com.

Larry Perrault said...

elephant man (only name in your profile):
Thanks. As I've told Stephen, I'll be investigating, though focusing on Ames, this week. But so far, only positives about Sarah Palin.