Last night Robert hurt won with 48.4% of the vote followed by McKelvey with 25.8% and McPadden with 9.7% Some have complained that it’s all the Tea Party’s fault. Well I can’t see how that is the case. How could we have done anything different? Short of kidnapping some of the losers. We held debates and still the delusional 3 wouldn’t go. We cited over and over the reasons for their departure yet they stayed. If you were to add up the votes for McK and McP you’d only get to 35% still not enough to pull out a hat trick. But if you added the delusional 3 (Ferrin,Morton,Verga) you 44.1% still not quite enough to pull it off…but close. The reality is that Robert Hurt and his team ran a fantastic campaign. No doubt that some Democrats voted for him as they were told to do by the DNC but he won.
Lets rewind a little and go back before the filing deadline. Before the Mass meeting in Campbell County. Lets pretend 3 crazy people stayed home and dropped out like they should have. I have every confidence that you would have seen a leader pull forward in this race if you were just looking at Boyd, McPadden, and McKelvey. It would have been much easier to get this down to a 2 man race and the laggards would have left. It would have been easier to get voters engaged in the process with just 2 maybe 3 candidates. Unlike yesterday where my wife, when voting was behind a man who asked the voting officials “you got any info on these guys?” ( good thing I wasn’t there I think I would have smacked the back of his head )
Yes there is plenty of blame to go around. Want someone to blame? Look to the 92% of the idiot voters that stayed home. Or the establishment that wanted a primary that cost the voters +$1 million. Or Tucker Watkins for loosing the race for Goode in 08 to Perriello. Or there is the problem of the delusional 3. But, while so many were sleeping the area Tea Party groups were instrumental in replacing 11 GOP unit chairs and the 5th district chairman. We got people engaged in the process as well.
So what is next. The prevailing wisdom is to “get behind the winner, so we can beat Perriello”. If by “get behind” they mean vote against Perriello then that is what most people will do. But you don’t win hard races with that tactic. Robert Hurt needs to give people reasons to get excited about him and to vote FOR him, not against the other guy.The concern I and others have, is that its going to be really hard to get people to go door to door for Robert Hurt in an effort to defeat Tom Perriello. TP has access to 5 Billion dollars of George Sorros money if he needs it. He can flood the district with calls,ads, and boots on the ground to topple his opponent.
How can we compete with that? Give us a reason to vote for you Robert.
I like Robert Hurt. I’ve said so many times. He is a conservative. He’s not the constitutional conservative I’d like to send to Washington. He as a lawyer, will look at legislation that crosses his desk in light of case law, not in the historical constitutional context that he should. Could he do differently. Maybe.
So what should the Tea Party groups do? Should they endorse Robert Hurt? Not likely. More on that later.
I had the privilege over the past few months of spending a lot of time with Mike McPadden. His family was a blast to hang out with and my kids just loved visiting with his Wife Meggan and they still talk about how they made cupcakes with her. He was everything I would want in a representative. He was Honorable, Funny, and understood the constitution like no other candidate I’ve seen. He was nothing but a gentleman with me, despite the lies that a certain individual was perpetrating throughout the fifth. He was a solid pro life and pro family candidate. He was, and remains, the better man. I am proud to call him my friend.
KF
Sam I can’t believe these people are so blind to the facts. I have been saying long before the primary that if Hurt won he was the ONLY candidate that would make it a three way race.Well here we are in a three way race thank you Tucker Watkins and Kelley.Im sure Perriello is very pleased with both of you.
will, people all over the district voted for Hurt. I am sure that Perriello is most pleased with McKelvey at this point. Perriello’s people continue to drive the wedge.
move on. beat Perriello.
Kelley Hurt as you have said in the past was the only candidate with name id and he didn’t even break 50% of the vote.Hurt has a three way race on his hands that won’t be easy.The Lynchburg Tea Party has already said they will NOT endorse Hurt.Clark has turned in his signatures.The DNC has already came out with a ad with the Republican primary candidates trashing Hurt.This is a disaster for Hurt and I told you this would happen.
Perriello continues to drive the wedge. Don’t let him define this election. He is wrecking our country.
Kelley the establishment drove the wedge now the Democrats are running with it.If Tucker hadn’t pushed for a primary we wouldn’t have this problem.What shocks me is that the establishment still doesn’t get it.Well Kelley let me explain it to you WE THE PEOPLE want a candidate we can vote for not against the other guy,we want a candidate we can get excited about,we want a candidate we feel is worth giving our time and money to,we want a candidate we can be pround of,we want a candidate that if elected we know will vote the right way,and one of the most important things is we want a candidate that is NOT a establishment pick.Kelley the establishment is the reason we now have a Tea party.Kelley if you can’t see this it isn’t any reason for me to try to explain it to you anymore.
Kelly, are you asking me to NOT vote my principals? Are you asking me to compromise and vote for someone I don’t think will do a good job representing me or my district? You have to understand… Perriello isn’t driving this wedge… People like you are.
I joined the TEA Party b/c I was TIRED OF POLITICS AS USUAL. I joined the TEA Party b/c I really do want to TAKE MY GOVERNMENT BACK and put it back in the hands of WE THE PEOPLE. Apparently you were just angry that a Democrat won.
Sam in not a Tea party member but im starting to think I have alot more in common with the Tea party than I do with the Republican party.
so Perriello, who is an incumbent Congressman & backed by Pelosi, is not establishment?
is the TEA party associated with the evangelical movement? the Libertarian movement? the anti-Israel movement?
Kelley as Republican’s I would think we would expect more from our people instead of just being on par with the Democrats.Im not a Tea party member so I won’t try to speak for them.
Kelly, what is wrong with you? I AM NOT voting for Perriello. Do you really think bullying people is going to get votes for Hurt? I think the heat may be getting to you.
we must defeat Perriello. look what Obama/Pelosi are trying to do to our country just this week alone. And its only Monday. $50 billion more of our tax dollars because public unions need money. And the doctor “fix” needs another spending bill (like they didn’t know that it wasn’t included in Obamacare? I read the bill & I knew it. They lied to the American people about it so as to make the bill seem deficit neutral).
Call Perriello’s office. send him an email. he is the problem.
Kelley you still don’t see our point.I know Obama,Pelosi,and Perriello are bad but what in the hell is good about Hurt ? People want a reason to vote FOR a candidate not against the other man cause he is bad. Kelley the establishment is THE reason we now have the Tea party.Kelley I can not believe you can’t see this.Hurt was a poor choice of a candidate in my opinion we could have done alot better.If Hurt doesn’t give voters a damn good reason to vote FOR him Perriello is going to kick his ass in November.Perriello has almost two million cash on hand right now.Kelley Hurt beat my candidate bad but Mike McPadden would have the Tea party and the GOP behind him now Hurt doesn’t and everyday that goes by that Hurt doesn’t pull everyone together is another day closer to election day.I don’t understand why you can’t see this.
Hi Will: What’s good about Hurt? – He’s conservative, and he has a good chance of winning. If you looked at his voting record, you would probably agree with most of the votes he has made.
don’t believe the Pelosi/Perriello propaganda. Hurt is conservative. and he can beat Perriello.
I have looked at Hurt’s record Stephen and it looks to me like Hurt is conservative when it best suits him to be.Im not sure the man has a backbone.
There’s been lots of talk of Hurt vote for the Warner budget and tax increase, and Hurt has tried (if not always persuasively) to explain that vote. But what I haven’t heard him pushed on and haven’t heard him answer, is the vote for the unconstitutional taxing authorities. That one is more troubling to me because it seemed fairly obvious that that was unconstitutional. Hurt’s silence on this issue is the real question mark for me.