Dear Conservative,
Have you ever thought about running for the United States Senate? No? Well, maybe you should! Or, maybe you know someone who should.
Here's how things work in the United States Senate right now: There are two kinds of Republicans, really. There is the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wing of the caucus. These Senators consider themselves to be generally conservative but they're willing to compromise with Obama. They are the ones who caved on the “Fiscal Cliff” a few weeks ago. They are very suspicious of the Tea Party, and think that "something has to be done about Tea Party people in these primaries." They're mad about Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock getting nominated. But they don't have a problem with moderates like Rick Berg in North Dakota and Denny Rehberg in Montana-- establishment candidates who also ran bad campaigns and lost.
Then there's the Jim Demint wing of the caucus. Over the last few years, Sen. Demint has done a fantastic job of recruiting people who understand that the country is facing an existential crisis. They believe thatif we don't act now to deal with this debt, we're going to lose the country we know and love.I’m talking about Senators like Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Ron Johnson, etc. That's not to say that any of them are perfect, but they“get it.” They are not in the Senate because they like being in an exclusive club. They're there because they are terrified about the direction of this country. They're ready to fight.
Which brings me to the point of this email:If you live in Arkansas, Alaska, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Dakota, West Virginia, Minnesota, Iowa, Montana, Colorado, Virginia, or New Hampshire you might need to consider running for office yourself. These states are all currently occupied by Democrats who are vulnerable. We need to make sure that we're nominating real conservatives to take them on.
It used to be that the way you won a Senate race was pretty simple: You decided to run, you called all the major donors in your state and tried to convince them to support you. Hopefully you got 60% of them to support you, and you'd run. So moderate Establishment guys were usually able to dominate the process.
Today all that has changed: with the rise of the Internet, conservative candidates have been able to nationalize their races and raise money from across the country. When Marco Rubio ran, he was a little known State Representative without a major donor base taking on a very popular Governor in Charlie Crist. But Rubio excited the conservative grassroots, and trounced Crist. Rand Paul wasn’t even in office—he was a doctor who'd never run for office before! He took on Leader Mitch McConnell's preferred pick in his home state of Kentucky and won! Rand Paul was never supposed to win. But he did, because he fired the imagination of conservatives around the country. Likewise, Ted Cruz was seen as having no shot to win his seat in Texas. He was taking on a well-liked Lieutenant Governor in David Dewhurst--what's more, Dewhurst is fabulously wealthy. But Cruz won anyway, because conservatives from around the country rallied to his cause. He raised over 3 million dollars online, and he did it with an average donation of about $60.
The message of the last two cycles is clear: A conservative candidate who is solid on the issues taking on a RINO will be able to count on the help of conservatives across the country, and will be able to win.
In South Dakota and West Virginia alone, two “moderate Republicans” have already stepped forward. No conservative candidate has emerged. Conservatives in Louisiana, North Carolina, Montana, Alaska, Arkansas are still looking for the right candidate.
I’ve been on the ballot before; I was elected statewide three times in the state of Ohio as Treasurer and Sec. of State. I know how tough it is. But to borrow from the famous line, "Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of their country."
Do you fit that description? If you want to talk about it a little more, send me an email. Just think about it.
Sincerely,
Ken Blackwell
Chairman, Tea Party Victory Fund
P.S. Maybe Senate isn’t the right fight for you right now. What about County Commissioner, or the State Legislature? We need conservatives at every level in this country right now. Is now the time for you to step forward?