Official 2008 Election Coverage (related to online poker in some way)

[Uglyowl]

I have come across a few articles that relate somewhat to online gambling or candidates who are heavily against or for. I always have a hard time finding a thread it goes into.

Anyhow, this economist article states the Republicans have three big negative views that many within the party are "fighting over".

1. Government has gotten too big. "that government is the problem rather than the solution"

2. Social conservatism
[ QUOTE ]
Libertarians argue that the Republican Party is too much in the pocket of ageing social conservatives such as James Dobson of Focus on the Family, activists who do not represent the views of common-or-garden Evangelicals let alone middle-of-the-road Americans. Social conservatives retort that they are the people who deliver the votes: if the Republican Party relies only on business conservatives and libertarians, it will be reduced to a rump.

[/ QUOTE ]

3. Foreign policy, mainly Iraq War.

http://economist.com/world/na/displa...ory_id=9619083

This will be an interesting election. I have liked the Republican Party of years past, but a good old stomping in 2008 I hope is enough to have the Republicans start to distance themselves from Focus on the Family type groups.

[Berge20]

2006 was a pretty good stomping

[MiltonFriedman]

Uhm, FoF-type groups ARE the Party and the Party is them. They took over the Party in as smooth a movement as would have made Josef Stalin proud. Like Stalin, they seek to use the police power of the State and its prosecution of "non-believers" to force everyone to conform to their own beliefs

Like the Taliban, they want an absolute theocracy, in the name of their Diety, as they interpret His Will.

There is a world of difference between a Party of George H Bush and the Party of George W Bush/Dick Cheney.

FoF-type groups are, in a word, Un-American and I hope that moderate Republicans and Goldwater conservatives can oust their influence.

[TheEngineer]

I agree with all of the above comments. I think we can show this is with our forthcoming 2007 KY gubernatorial race actions.

2008 will be a bloodbath for the Republican Party. I hope it will help them rediscover their roots.

[Uglyowl]

We are now less than a year away from 2008 elections. Here is how the Senate is shaking out according to Rothenberg (7 Republican seats in danger vs. 1 Democratic) and 4 more Republican seats that could sway with further developments.

(Danger= Lean Takeover, Toss-up, Narrow Advantage for Incumbent Party )

http://rothenbergpoliticalreport.blo...e-ratings.html

Lean Takeover (1 R, 0 D)

VA Open (Warner, R)

Toss-Up (3 R, 1 D)
CO Open (Allard, R)
NM Open (Domenici, R)
Sununu (R-NH)
Landrieu (D-LA)

Narrow Advantage for Incumbent Party (3 R, 0 D)
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Smith (R-OR)

Clear Advantage for Incumbent Party (4 R, 0 D)
NE Open (Hagel, R)
Dole (R-NC)
McConnell (R-KY)
Stevens (R-AK)

Currently Safe (11 R, 11 D)
ID Open (Craig, R)
Alexander (R-TN)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Cochran (R-MS)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Baucus (D-MT)
Biden (D-DE)
Durbin (D-IL)
Harkin (D-IA)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kerry (D-MA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Levin (D-MI)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Rockefeller (D-WV)

[DeadMoneyDad]

[ QUOTE ]
Uhm, FoF-type groups ARE the Party and the Party is them. They took over the Party in as smooth a movement as would have made Josef Stalin proud. Like Stalin, they seek to use the police power of the State and its prosecution of "non-believers" to force everyone to conform to their own beliefs

Like the Taliban, they want an absolute theocracy, in the name of their Diety, as they interpret His Will.

There is a world of difference between a Party of George H Bush and the Party of George W Bush/Dick Cheney.

FoF-type groups are, in a word, Un-American and I hope that moderate Republicans and Goldwater conservatives can oust their influence.

[/ QUOTE ]

The FoF types gain their influence because they are fully engaged more often than not in the primary elections. Thus gaining advantage in safe districts then using that leverage in presuring candidates in those and other General elections.

The FoF types are no more the party than any well organized group for the Dems. The Dems have the advantage of being pragmatic enough to throw people under the bus as needed.

Too many Republicans get what they deserve due to their limited participation in the process.


D$D

[Fedorfan]

With pat robertson endorsing giuliani, it wouldn't be to hard to imagine huckabee as his vp, this seems bad for us?

[TheEngineer]

[ QUOTE ]
With pat robertson endorsing giuliani, it wouldn't be to hard to imagine huckabee as his vp, this seems bad for us?

[/ QUOTE ]

If Guiliani wins the nomination, he will likely want a Southerner or Westerner as his running mate. Huckabee will be on his short list, as will McCain. Huckabee actually may not be interested, as he seems pretty principled in his positions. If he is the nominee, FoF-types likely won't run their own candidate.

I think Giuliani/McCain is more likely at this point, I think. That's actually a good ticket for us in that it will weaken social conservatives (I'm no Giuliani backer), and will keep the social cons home on Election Day, helping us in Congressional races.

I hope a pro-poker presidential candidate will break through into the top tier soon.

[zimmer879]

[ QUOTE ]
I hope the pro-poker presidential candidate will break through into the top tier soon.

[/ QUOTE ]

FYP

[TheEngineer]

[ QUOTE ]
With pat robertson endorsing giuliani, it wouldn't be to hard to imagine huckabee as his vp, this seems bad for us?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think Pat Robertson's endorsement of Giuliani speaks volumes to the weakening of the Religious Right.

Social conservatives have had THE power within the Republican Party for so long that they EXPECTED the party to follow their dictates. We saw it with UIGEA. Dobson decided to end all online gaming, so FoF (with Harrah's and the NFL) simply told the GOP to do it. Fortunately, social conservatives aren't very pragmamtic. They overreached and got trounced last year. And, they haven't learned. Two KY candidates ran on purely social conservative platforms this year and got crushed. And, next year looks worse (though a lot can change in a year), especially with the congressional elections.

These big government social cons think this power even extends to primary voters, given that Dobson pretty much ordered them to not vote for Giuliani. LOL. However, it's becoming clear that rank-and-file party aren't buying into the big government repressive platform of the social conservatives. That's one reason the party lost so badly last year. So, the social conservatives are scrambling to keep whatever power they can. They're fracturing - Dobson isn't really supporting anyone (he's just against some candidates), Brownback endorsed McCain, Robertson essentially said "screw off Dobson" and endorsed Giuliani, while others endorsed Romney. Meanwhile, the only real social conservative in the race, Baptist minister Gov. Mike Huckabee, can't buy an endorsement from these guys, and he's complaining loudly.

This is good stuff for us. Hopefully this will all lead to a realignment of the GOP. Election losses tend to do that.