Virginia primaries... ugly

[thoughtomator]

all the wrong people won the GOP primaries in VA today

https://www.voterinfo.sbe.virginia....6-40E2-AF41-3CE22C787EA4/unofficial/5_s.shtml

the GOP ought to be ashamed of itself, it voted for the worst candidate in every single election we had today

 

[Rebelrouser]

Sigh. Absolutely abysmal. Is it any wonder VA is becoming a blue state? I mean seriously, how can that many people vote Perkins over Vaughn when Perkins pretty much came out and said "Hey, I'm just doing this to take care of my DOD contracting buddies!"

 

[Keith and stuff]

Link didn't work for me. Every single election? I know all of the GOP US Rep incumbents easily won their primaries. Also the decent candidate to be the GOP nominee for US Senate got about as many voters as you would expect from a LP candidate

 

[thoughtomator]

link wasn't working briefly but is now

 

[.roark.]

I'm so disappointed in my fellow Virginians. Yet another election where my candidates never win...

 

[James Madison]

So, I'm guessing Karen K didn't fare so well? Sorry, I've been out of the political loop for a few days.

 

[Keith and stuff]

So, I'm guessing Karen K didn't fare so well? Sorry, I've been out of the political loop for a few days.

Robert W. "Bob" Goodlatte 21,745 66.44%
Karen U. Kwiatkowski 10,982 33.55%

She did OK. Maybe she bit off more than she could chew on her first run for office? Maybe she could win with a run for a state legislative office? Anyway, it is common to lose during the first run, especially when going up against an incumbent congressman.

 

[cjm]

She did OK. Maybe she bit off more than she could chew on her first run for office?

If she only had to compete against Bob Goodlatte, she would have done much better if not won outright. But she had to compete against E.W. Jackson, Bob Marshall, Jamie Radtke, and Ron Paul for volunteers and funding.

Many liberty activists (like myself) really liked Kwiatkowski but focused exclusively on Ron Paul all the way up through Super Tuesday. Karen didn't get anything from me during that period except a few signatures for her ballot access petition. Between Super Tuesday and the Republican Party district convention, I focused my volunteer work primarily on Karen but kept donating money exclusively to the Ron Paul campaign. During this same period, other liberty activists were working the Ron Paul delegate push and I didn't see the Kwiatkowski volunteers show up after Super Tuesday like I thought they would. After the district convention I thought Karen would get more people donating time to her campaign but it just never materialized in any meaningful way. Some worked for Senate candidates, some were just burned out from all the Ron Paul work earlier in the year. We had no ground game at all in the Roanoke/Botetourt areas.

Some might say that this was a waste of resources since her chances were obviously pretty long at the outset. I don't regret the time and money I gave to the campaign, and I would have done it anyway even knowing that volunteers wouldn't show up. Finding liberty activists willing to do the work is pretty tough. Finding a liberty candidate willing to run is a pretty rare thing and when it happens, we need to rally. She didn't unseat the incumbent, but by running she caused him to spend a million dollars to defend the seat he is using to promote SOPA, Patriot Act, etc. Some speculate that he will retire in two years to avoid another challenge like this. If so, we'll have an open seat with an heiress apparent ready to fill it. That's not a bad result for $90,000 and minimal volunteer work.

 

[LibertyEagle]

I hope she runs again.

 

[Todd]

Well. I won't be voting for stupid George Allen AGAIN. What is it with these guys that they think the world is such a better place when they get back into politics after they've been thrown out.

 

[Rebelrouser]

I wonder how many voters were democrats and liberals who were just voting for the most "progressive" or weakest candidate? Honestly, with the exception of Allen, who was always expected to win, these results just don't make sense to me.

 

[Lightweis]

Yesterday results were ugly! but we didn't get behind any of the candidates. I think if we concentrated on some of these races we would have a few.

 

[Keith and stuff]

I wonder how many voters were democrats and liberals who were just voting for the most "progressive" or weakest candidate? Honestly, with the exception of Allen, who was always expected to win, these results just don't make sense to me.

All of the non-incumbents were the weak candidates but the incumbents all did fantastic.

 

[Keith and stuff]

If she only had to compete against Bob Goodlatte, she would have done much better if not won outright. But she had to compete against E.W. Jackson, Bob Marshall, Jamie Radtke, and Ron Paul for volunteers and funding.

Fair enough. However, your agreement is scary. If only 1 pro-liberty candidates runs in VA it will be easier for that 1 candidate to win. However, that would mean that only 1 pro-liberty candidate is running in the state of VA. That would be a horrible sign for the future of liberty.

 

[cjm]

Each race that is run brings more people out of the woodwork. It'll be tougher in the early years when multiple races have candidates, but as the years go on there will be enough resources to go around. I think liberty is in good hands as long as we stay with it and realize that it's not a campaign, it's a lifestyle.

 

[thoughtomator]

One thing I have learned from this election is that the organizing for the 2013/2014 elections needs to get started way early, as in like right now.

 

[Aratus]

Mitt and his easy VA primary 60% hopes to have coat~tails for these neo-cons in NOV?

 

[Warmon]

Well. I won't be voting for stupid George Allen AGAIN. What is it with these guys that they think the world is such a better place when they get back into politics after they've been thrown out.

Him and Kaine both. Can't these guys get a real job?