Brownback Is Out
Written by Sam on October 18th, 2007Republican Sam Brownback will drop out of the 2008 presidential campaign on Friday, people close to the Kansas senator said Thursday.Trouble raising money was a main reason for his decision, said one person close to Brownback, who requested anonymity because the candidate had not yet announced his plans.
Brownback, a lesser-known conservative contender, is expected announce his withdrawal in Topeka, Kan.
The senator is widely expected to seek the Kansas governor’s office in 2010, when his term — his second — expires. He had promised in his first Senate campaign to serve no more than two terms.
It’s about time. Now if a few of the other laggards would step aside there might be enough time for the realistic candidates to have actual debates instead of a sound bite contest.
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Hate to burst your bubble Sam, but even with only two candidates, we wouldnt have any real debates. Only one of all of the candidates (on both sides) have agreed to non moderated, no rules debates on specific topics. And that would be Guiliani.
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Its still going to slowly get better… Tancredo, Paul, Hunter, and Huckabee need to go soon too. Then we’ll be down to a reasonable number.
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I can live with Giuliani as our nominee, but he isn’t my top choice.
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I find it hard to believe that Giuliani has agreed to such a thing. He has turned down more debate opportunities that any other candidate besides Mitt Romney.
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I thought Huckabee and Thompson were the only ones who had embraced Gingrich’s challenge to have weekly debates next fall.
On the other hand, Bob, one could argue that Thompson has “turned down” more debates, given how late he jumped in and his announcement on Leno the night of a debate…
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Huckabee is going to have a monster amount of free publicity after he smashes everyone’s expectations in the Iowa Caucuses. He is clearly a first tier candidate, although not necessarily a good one.
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I really can’t understand why the Dukakis of our party (Huckabee–the only Republican I can think of who repeated the Willie Horton mistake that rightly cost Dukakis the election) is getting so much traction. He’s the only candidate I can think of to whom the word “fascistic” actually applies (supporting the ban on smoking in all these public places–what the hell kind of country does he want this to be?), he’s awful on fiscal issues (tax hiker, big spender), and on every single issue (even illegal immigration, for heaven’s sake) he’s all about happiness and fluffy bunnies and handholding and Kumbaya. Where does his appeal come from, anyway? Is it because he speaks well? It certainly isn’t because he’s a conservative.
The sad thing is that the only candidates who’re dropping out are the ones who aren’t changing anything by dropping out. If Huckabee and McCain dropped out, that would help the conservative cause, because even though they ultimately won’t win the nomination, they’re peeling off pro-life votes from a pro-life candidate who might actually win. But Gilmore, Tommy Thompson, and Brownback never had enough support that their candidacies would make a difference.
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I can understand Huckabee’s surge. And if I was a Republican, I would not count him out or look at it with dismay.
Huckabee represents a uniting force on your side of the aisle. He speaks alot calmly about the issues, he seems like a dedicated governor and husband. Also, he do not seem fanatical like our current president(OK–call it liberal projection, but I am pulling for Huckabee just in case Hillary wins the nomination. I am shocked that so many people want her to win–so make room if it is a battle of Arkansas! I am revolting!)
I can give you some pointers on how to “Mellow out” the GOP. But I think I will post it on the DailyKos sometime tomorrow. I love it when I cause controversy there!!
Of course–I need to think of a good topic so you can list it in “DailyKos stupidity”
How about “How the GOP can MELLOW Out”?
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#8:
Uniting to whom on our side of the aisle? Besides those who care only about social conservatism, that charge will not hold. See the reasons I and others have listed in earlier posts, and see what the Club For Growth has to say about him. Hell, just look at his opinion on smoking and you can easily tell this guy’s too big for his britches, and is a typical I-know-better-than-you politician.
He may talk a good game, but your claim that the GOP needs to “mellow out” is completely backwards. The GOP (a good portion of both its policy-makers and electorate) has “mellowed out” and ignored its principles for years. There’s nothing radical about insisting that actual small government, Federalist, Constitutional principles be followed - at least it shouldn’t be radical. Certainly not in the Republican Party.
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Each time I tried to respond to your post, Perry, I end up writing passages on my concept of how to obtain “good governance”.
Small government as good government may not be true in all cases.
Anyway, The leadership did not mellow out. The administration approach(I can not say it is an approach supported by all Republican ) is to challenge first and always, while it is sometimes useful to finesse the situation and keep certain ideas hidden. I leave it at that.
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Guiliani was the first to agree to Newt’s “9 90’s” challenge, months ago. I was unaware of Thompson and Huckabee’s acceptance of this, and a quick search this morning turned it up. Right now, this is probably the most important thing our electoral process needs. Of course, it would detract from the sound-bite warfare that so many political people like to engage in, but it is healthy for the country.
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Langley,
Placing social conservatives as a small group of the GOP and then putting up the Club for Growth crowd as an equally important wing seems wrong to me. I dont have any stats, but my gut tells me that the “solid south” isnt turning out to vote on monetary policy. They are turning out to vote Pro-Life.
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Thompson mentioned the 9 90s thing on Leno when he announced saying that it was a good idea.
As far as I know he hasn’t formally committed. If Newt wants to try to make this happen he needs to start pressuring dems so they can push Hillary towards it.
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Fiscal conservatives and social conservatives are equally important to the GOP! I’m not suggesting that the “solid south” will turn out to vote on “monetary policy” alone - what I’m suggesting is that we’ve been trumpeting nothing but the social conservative principles lately, and been ignoring the fiscal conservatives, which is, first of all, fiscally irresponsible, and second of all, discouraging to many GOP voters. My whole thing is, why should social conservatives expect us to continue to go along with this ploy? You’ll find many social conservatives (pro-life, etc) can be wishy-washy on true fiscal conservatism, but the real warriors of fiscal conservatism (see Coburn, DeMint) always seem to be equally as good on social issues.
I’m not suggesting that we sacrifice one for the other. I’m pointing out that those who are solidly conservative on economics and monetary policy are usually most certainly going to be socially conservative; the opposite cannot be said.
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In this whole list of comments, no one said anything about Sam Brownback himself.
I, for one, want to thank the Senator for putting himself forward and running for president. Running for office is never easy and anyone who does it should be applauded for the attempt.
I had the chance to meet Senator Brownback on the campaign trail once this summer. I did not agree with him on all points but I thought he made a compelling argument for his campaign. I especially appreciated his speaking about being pro-life and what he called a “holistic-life” ethic.
In the end, I think I have found Ron Paul to be the more dynamic man for this time in our nation’s history. But, that doesn’t take anything away from Senator Brownback’s laudable desire to serve.