What we have here, is a situation most curious.
Columbia, South Carolina’s Free Times has posted an article declaring: “Republican Gubernatorial Candidates Running from Sanford.”
Now, I’m not gonna dispute the Free Times, especially since it is getting it’s info by suckling at the teat of the increasingly irrelevant State newspaper. The contention seems to be that because the four announced GOP candidates for Governor in 2010 would accept the “stimulus” funds that Governor Mark Sanford either doesn’t want or wants redirected to pay off debt, then Sanford is in some sort of Republican minority.
The four (conveniently quoted alphabetically by The State), Barrett, Bauer, McMaster and Nelson would;
approve the money with the caveat that state agencies start preparing for another budget crunch in two years (Barrett)
accept the money and push for spending it on the state’s highest priorities (Bauer)
push to spend as much of the money on one-time expenses as allowed by law (McMaster)
and
focus the funds on fixing an education system that is failing our kids (Nelson)
You may notice that only Rep. Gresham Barrett’s statement has any real leadership quality to it – then only marginally so. The others are gonna “push” or “focus.”
But what The State and Free Times miss – or conveniently ignore – is that by running from Governor Sanford on this spending debacle they’re also running from the electorate.
None of the four candidates knows that better than Barrett who was roundly booed at a post-Tea Party rally in Greenville. Further, at gatherings around the state on April 15th, Sanford was vocally cheered and lauded on home-made signs.
If these guys want to run from Sanford, so be it. But when they do, they’ll likely find no track on which they can rely.
No doubt the GOP contenders are trying to have it both ways, as I pointed out in my blog entry when I wrote that the candidates are being careful “to acknowledge voter frustration with massive federal spending and bailouts,” even as they say they would take the money.
It’s certainly not unusual for politicians to try to play both sides of an issue, and given that no one knows how things will play out in the next few months with the economy they are just hedging their bets in how they are positioning themselves now.
Nonetheless, it seems they have determined that Sanford’s position is toxic; otherwise they would be embracing it enthusiastically. If an incumbent has coattails, you ride them. If they don’t, you run from them.
Though you say the GOP contenders are positioning themselves against “the electorate,” really you mean they are positioning themselves against the citizens who showed up at the recent protest. The electorate is a different matter entirely: They’ve got Sanford at a 40 percent approval rating and Obama at 49 percent.
Any Republican interested in being the next governor will need to appease some of those tax protesters, no doubt, but they will also need to win over swing voters, who disapprove of Sanford’s position on the stimulus. So it would seem that the candidates are trying to walk the classic balancing act between primary voters (many of whom might support Sanford’s stance) and general election voters (most of whom don’t).
Fair enough, and methinks no one is walking a more treacherous tight rope than is Sanford – UNLESS he truly is not going to run for another office after 2010.
Read it again, Charlie. Maybe you need it typed up with a fancy DoD letter head. 40 percent approval rating.
Running away from the electorate? Your lust for Sanford is leading you away from reality.
Ah, Snead, my boy… you don’t know what you THINK you know…
Right, Charlie.
You’re so mysterious.
Keep it up, hack!
Hack! THAT part you got right.
What American refuse to look at or understand is the Federal Government is nothing more than a pusher of drugs. This stimulus is nothing more than taking our tax dollars,sending some of them back and hooking us into a never ending cycle. They rule us with the fruits of our own labor. The strings attached to anything the Feds send us are never ending and therein lies the problem. They hook us then send the responsibility back to the individual states who in turn send it back to the locals. It is another way of generating more taxes and blaming it on the state and locals.Eventually about 6 to 8 states will enslave all of us because of the system of hiearchy set up in DC. This is how the Feds can control us and will always if we do not break away from their cycle. The Pelosi,s and Reids of the world with the slave masters like Conyers and Rangel who sell out their people are nothing more than the Wizard of Oz.Between Lawyers,Government employees and Unions America is already enslaved.