August 07, 2006 02:30 AM UTC

Fawcett supporters leak Strategy - Elect Lamborn in 5th GOP Primary

• 3 Comments
• by: RightOn

It takes more than casting a vote for a good cause to be an effective U.S. Congressman, it also requires being able to make a good case for the cause–and that includes being able to make a good case for the cause of getting elected as well.

The Republican candidate that Fawcett has the easiest chance of beating in the 5th CD general election is the one who has the greatest difficulty articulating his points of view with  persuasiveness. That appears to be Doug Lamborn, who has counseled voters not to listen to his speaches.  The point of it all is that in a competition of ideas, the one who can articulate his the best–even if the worst idea of all–is the one with the best chance of carrying the day for his argument.  Ergo, Fawcett would do best in a match-up one on one against Lamborn.

The August 6, 2006 Colorado Springs Gazette reports in its article “2 days away, and winner is still anybody’s guess” that Democrat Party Chairman John Morris and Democrat party activist Lee Milner have “heard of liberal voters supporting the conservative Lamborn because they think Fawcett can beat him in November.”  As reported in that article, this appears to have been part of a strategy by Democrats switching party affiliations before the July deadline so as to be able to vote in the Republican primary for the weakest conservative GOP candidate against which Fawcett may run and win.

Moreover, and fortuitously for Fawcett, in a convergence of factors for the “perfect storm” by which Fawcett has a good chance of defeating Lamborn, there cannot be ignored the scortched earth policy that the Lamborn campaign, John and Mark Hotaling, and the Christian Coalition and Club for Growth have followed in attacking Jeff Crank and Lionel Rivera while the weaker candidates are left unscathed. 

Indeed, these tactics may more aptly be described as attempts to nail Crank’s and Rivera’s characters and reputations to crosses from which they can never come down nor be resurrected. While Jeff Crank has received an apology from the national offices of Christian Coalition, which is investigating Mr. Hotaling and its Colorado chapter of the Christian Coalition, no similar apology was issued to Rivera for reasons not entirely clear. 

What is clear it that it is known that many Republican stalwarts who have supported Crank and Rivera are committing to withholding both their votes and their money from Lamborn if he is the winner of the Republican primary. 

There are now deep divisions caused by the Lamborn campaign among Republican activists in El Paso County who have supported Crank or Rivera that will not be healed, if at all, for several election cycles to come.  Common interests that have existed for years have been ripped apart and shreaded by such scortched earth/nail them to the cross tactics that voting to elect Lamborn to Congress is now actually more reprehensible than abstaining from voting in the general election if the candidate running against Jay Fawcett is indeed Doug Lamborn.

In the mean time, Lamborn continues his attack ads against both Crank and Rivera, and ignores Bremer, Rayburn and Anderson–evidencing that  Crank and Rivera have polling numbers that indicate either of them will beat Lamborn.  So, if the Democrats are going to have a good chance of winning the 5th Congressional race, they need Lamborn to keep carrying Fawcett’s water.