Results Here

I’ll live blog, though my prediction is this will be a blow out for Campbell, the Club for Growth backed Republican whose only major competition comes not from the Dems but from Gilchrist running on the American Independent Party ticket who was the founder of the minutemen.

Absentee Ballots Are In:
JOHN CAMPBELL (REP) 30895 53.2%
STEVE YOUNG (DEM) 14697 25.3%
JIM GILCHRIST (AI) 10944 18.8%
BÉA TIRITILLI (GRN) 915 1.6%
BRUCE COHEN (LIB) 644 1.1%

I think we can safely call this one for Campbell, the big question is how many votes Gilchrist gets. If he beats the Dem it will definitely be an impressive showing.

12:47AM - 54/268 Precincts In:
UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE 48th District
Vote Count Percentage
JOHN CAMPBELL (REP) 33592 50.7%
STEVE YOUNG (DEM) 17373 26.2%
JIM GILCHRIST (AI) 13637 20.6%
BÉA TIRITILLI (GRN) 998 1.5%
BRUCE COHEN (LIB) 702 1.1%

1:09AM - 110 of 268 Precincts In:
UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE 48th District
Vote Count Percentage
JOHN CAMPBELL (REP) 35719 47.9%
STEVE YOUNG (DEM) 20532 27.6%
JIM GILCHRIST (AI) 16422 22.0%
BÉA TIRITILLI (GRN) 1069 1.4%
BRUCE COHEN (LIB) 766 1.0%

Wow Gilchrist has done phenomenal so far, I am surprised though obviously Campbell won.

Final Results - 1:43AM
JOHN CAMPBELL (REP) 41450 44.7%
STEVE YOUNG (DEM) 25926 28.0%
JIM GILCHRIST (AI) 23237 25.1%
BÉA TIRITILLI (GRN) 1242 1.3%
BRUCE COHEN (LIB) 880 0.9%

25.1%…. wow. Nice showing by Team Gilchrist, though let us not overlook that John Campbell is a solid conservative that will do great work in the House.

Just when it looked like the Democratic Party was going to come back in 2006 and either capture the House and Senate or at the very least make substantial gains, Howard Dean sends the party back into political oblivion. As unpopular as the war is I can’t think that publicly betraying the troops is going to go over real well. What say you Save The GOP readers?

Its available here, but I think, sadly, that the quote below sums it all up:

If Davis had pipped Fox in the centre-right primary David Cameron had overwhelmed Ken Clarke for the hearts and minds of the party’s pragmatists and soft left.

More interestingly:

He reprised the And Theory Of Conservatism. The And Theory said that it wasn’t necessary to ditch traditional beliefs in order to offer a broader appeal. It was possible to offer tax relief and greater public service investment. It was possible to be Eurosceptic and care for the hungry of Africa and the compassionate Tory right swooned.

Some light at the end of the tunnel:

A pledge to leave the EPP and a promise of a tax allowance for married couples was the loose change that bought David Cameron the support of the right. Leading lights of the three most important parliamentary right-wing groups endorsed him. John Hayes from Cornerstone. Gerald Howarth from the ‘92 Group. John Redwood from No Turning Back. Will they stay loyal if the exit from the EPP is kicked into the long grass and the tax incentive for marriage ends up being paltry?

Popularity may keep the right quiet as Blair’s popularity once kept Labour’s left compliant. With Hague, Fox, Duncan Smith, Fox, Osborne, Rifkind and Davis, the young king can appoint a court of enormous talent. The Conservative Party suddenly looks much more impressive than the government it shadows. The danger comes if the political climate turns hostile. The men around Cameron stop looking like a government-in-waiting and more like would-be leaders ready to catch the crown if it slips from the young king’s head.

All in all, I think Cameron is pretty much an unknown quantity who could turnout like Thatcher or could turn out like Hague, Duncan Smith, Major, etc. The UK needs a genuine and authentic conservative voice to turn the isle back from the liberalism that is destroying it. As a self-avowed Anglophile, I love British politics but there is little doubt that nearly all the Conservative’s in the UK would be moderates or liberals over the pond here in the US. Only time will tell if the UK can be saved from liberalism’s iron fist.

It is a great honor to join the impressive list of contributors here at Save the GOP. I am phatkid74. Why the pseudonym? Well lets just say when there is so much to learn of someone by Googling their name I felt it prudent to use a pseudonym.

I am a native Atlantan (one of the few) where I work in technology in the la-la land of Academia. I am in the heart of liberal academia. I have lived here my whole life save 4 wonderful years at Hampden-Sydney College in beautiful middle Virginia. HSC is a very unique college, being one of two all-male colleges left in this country. HSC is the rare conservative campus where traditions are valued and have been preserved for more than 200 years.

Politics are in my roots. My family never shied away from political discussions, they were encouraged. I thank my parents for that. For it is through them that I am a conservative and a Republican.

In college I worked on the Oliver North failed senatorial campaign. It was there that I was introduced to the works of Ayn Rand, more her novels than her essays on objectivism.
Rand championed the individual as the savior of society. This is where I leave Ayn Rand’s philosophy because she left no room for religion and our savior Jesus Christ.

I was the typical non-practicing Christian until recently. I believed in God and Jesus but I never made the commitment to let go and let Jesus into my heart and guide me. I have my beautiful wife and the Holy Spirit to thank for that.

Recently I worked the polls in the last 2 presidential elections. Since taking power in 1994 the GOP has stumbled and not lived up to the promise. Particularly in the Senate where the Democrats run circles around us. The GOP wins when it espouses conservative ideals. We have an opportunity now, to finish the conservative re-alignment in this country. It why we are all here.

I must dissent somewhat from Nathan’s charachterization of Cameron as a “new Reagan.” Here is the BBC’s take:

The opponent claims that is a weakness, showing he believes in little and is driven by no coherent ideology but simply the mantra of being “modern and radical” - it is the “Tony Blair-lite” label.

On taxation, he has insisted he “believes in lower taxes”, but only pledged to balance the money raised through growth between public spending and tax cuts.

Part of his pitch for the leadership was to transform the look and appeal of the party with a more inclusive approach.

But, while he is ready to support a variety of lifestyles, including gay partnerships, he still believes the family is the best unit.

On the EU, whilst not as fiercely Eurosceptic as some in the party, he has ruled out joining the single currency or signing up to a constitution.

But what many are waiting for most eagerly is his “Clause Four” moment - equivalent to Tony Blair’s decision to abandon the key old Labour section of the party’s constitution.

Here’s the kicker with the Clause Four moment, basically what they are talking about there is a wholesale abandonment of the base of the party Old Conservatives as compared to the Old Labour. Nothing good is in that intonation.

We’ll wait and see what happens, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

This story from the BBC is very exciting. It finally seems that England’s conservatives are getting their act together. All I got to say is, it is about time! They have been opposing EVERYTHING, including the war in Iraq just to give opposition to Tony Blair. Instead, they should be putting out their own conservative agenda and it finally looks like they are moving in that direction with the selection of this new leader.

* Update *
Let me clarify, I did mean Ronald Reagan, I just made a typo, a mistake that I will pay penance for. There is only one Reagan that is the Gypper. The UK’s problem is not that it is too Liberal (though it is), the real problem is that there is a lack of true movement conservative leaders with backbone. The party is a joke and is not offering the English voter any reason to vote for them. I have been saying for awhile now that things will only get worse over there until they get new leadership in the party. It is my hope that they are beginning to take steps in that direction.