CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
May 21, 2009 – 5:39 p.m.
Conservatives Bash Cornyn, Threaten to Withhold Donations to GOP
By Jonathan Allen and Bart Jansen, CQ Staff
The Texas Republican in charge of helping his party win Senate seats recently moved to narrow the field in Florida’s 2010 primary but now faces a much wider problem: an incendidary backlash by the conservative movement.
As soon as Gov. Charlie Crist made the long-anticipated announcement that he would run, John Cornyn , chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, gave Crist a quick and hearty endorsement, even though another Republican, former state House Speaker Marco Rubio, wants the job.
For Cornyn, the calculus was simple math: Crist is a proven statewide vote-getter who can raise money on his own.
Since the endorsement, Cornyn has touted polling showing the better-known Crist with a 53 percent to 18 percent lead and said he would decide “on a case-by-case basis” which Senate primary contests to get involved in.
But Cornyn’s move left conservatives furious over the effort to quash the nascent campaign of Rubio, a young Cuban-American whom they say embodies the GOP’s goal of trying to expand the party’s appeal to minority voters.
A Web site known as “Not One Red Cent” — and connected to popular Republican activists Erick Erickson and John Hawkins — is encouraging conservatives to withhold their money from the NRSC and call for Cornyn’s resignation. Rubio, 37, has become the site’s cause célèbre.
“The leadership of the Republican Party keeps saying we need to get back to our principles and talking about how important it is to attract more young voters and Hispanic Americans. Then, we get a viable, young, conservative, Hispanic candidate running for Senate and they arrogantly try to shove him aside to make way for a better connected, moderate pol who’s more acceptable to the GOP establishment,” Hawkins said in a statement released Thursday.
“This cuts to the core of what’s wrong with today’s Republican Party.”
“They’re certainly entitled to express their opinions on this Senate seat and participate in the democratic process just like anyone else,” said NRSC spokesman Brian Walsh. “But that also includes Sen. Cornyn and the other Senate Republican leaders who have expressed their support for Gov. Crist. They’ve endorsed the governor because he’s not only a proven leader but he’s also the candidate to ensure that this seat stays Republican in a very competitive election cycle. So while it’s healthy to have a debate, at the end of the day it’s even more important for all Republicans to keep their eye on the ultimate goal, which is regaining the majority in the Senate.”
Cornyn defended his decision to get behind Crist as a practical move that will benefit the party’s efforts in the Senate and across the country.
“It’s because he can win,” he said of Crist. “Money we don’t have to spend in Florida could pull somebody over the finish line and can be used to help Republicans in other parts of the country. For me, the most important imperative for Republicans now in the Senate is to improve our numbers so we can be an effective check on single-party government.”
Cornyn’s Democratic counterpart, Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said even without Republican infighting Crist is going to have a hard time convincing voters “that being the junior senator in the minority party is the way in which he’s going to help Florida vs. staying and doing the job,.”
Menendez said the uproar is likely to result in a “more significant primary challenge” for Crist than was anticipated.
Hawkins found Cornyn’s rationale lacking, saying the involvement of the NRSC is going to drain donations from the race and not save money. “The Republican Party is not supposed to be getting involved in Republican primaries,” he said.
At the same time, Crist is being hammered by the fiscally conservative Club for Growth, which has demonstrated the ability to direct huge sums of money to favored candidates in Republican primaries.
On Thursday, Club for Growth President Chris Chocola, a former congressman from Indiana (2003-07), questioned whether Crist’s support for parts of President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package (PL 111-5) is a harbinger of a party-switch akin to the one made by Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter , a longtime Republican who became a Democrat last month.
“ Charlie Crist has shown he’s willing to say one thing and do another,” Chocola said. “Voters deserve to know just how far he’ll go for the sake of political expediency.”
Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart , R-Fla., who like Rubio is Cuban-American, said Cornyn’s move has not ruled out a Republican Senate primary in Florida.
“People are free to run,” said Diaz-Balart, who has still not endorsed a candidate in the race.
“People vote on their analysis of the candidates” not endorsements from Washington, he said. “There’s an eternity between now and the primary.”
Kathleen Hunter contributed to this story.
Comments
If Cornyn and the rest of the inside-the-Beltway poobahs had merely indicated their PERSONAL PREFERENCES -rather than any official/institutional endorsement- no "incendiary backlash" by the insurgent conservative activists would like be occurring. Moreover, Cornyn and his bunch are on further shaky ground as far as "rationale" goes because, even after Specter's departure, they have yet to confer similar honour to Toomey, who currently enjoys wide leads over Luksik and others in the PA primary.
Speaking as one, Republicans need to stop the infighting. Rubio may be a great guy, but Crist is unbeatable and therefore should get the party's support. The Ds took over because they stopped using a purity test for their candidates, stopped talking about issues where they were out of touch with the mainstream (i.e. abortion and gun control), and supported conservative Ds in conservative districts. If we ever want to get control of the country back from Pelosi, we need to support moderates who can win in swing/liberal states and districts. They may not be "pure" enough for some, but they will be with us more often than against us, and that should be the final test.
Can we point out the tone-deaf, mind-numbing stupidity of the NRSC backing a candidate, Crist, who announces he would have voted for the stimulus THE SAME WEEK as an election in the most populous state in the country massively rejects government spending at the polls? The California result was widely predicted, even by the Democrats. Who or what the hell are Michael Steele and the GOP leadership listening to?
In Gov. Crist, the Republican Party will only gain a RINO in congress. He was one of the first governors to run to the coat-tails of Obama when the "stimulus" package came out. Very few of his ideas have had any true benefit for Floridians. I would rather roll the dice with Rubio than someone who can raise money and win a seat with a republican tag on it. Consertative principles will help the country far more than an easy win and no moral compass
How much support when it comes to knuckle cracking time will Crist provide. We've had Specter and have Grassley, Snow etc.. The reason base voters sit out elections is because of the lack of principle demonstrated picking someone because it's expedient over someone who is more principled.
I guess it's a step forward that a majority of the Florida GOP supports a gay guy for Senate. A closet case, and internalized homophobe to be sure, but don't get bogged down in the specifics. Baby steps I guess
Rubio can win with a year of a Primary campaign. Crist has some advantages but a great line of attack for the Dems. Charlie is leaving Florida before he has to do some tough political work. Dems and Rubio will light him up over running away from Florida
Why not wait to endorse until after the primary? I disagree with Mike Calvin. Hillery was also 'unstoppable". The stimulus is going to prove to be a big, wasteful disaster. I have zero respect for Crist because of his support for it. Just looking at Charlie Crist reminds me of the other phonies already in the Senate.
If Cornyn thinks that what the Republican Party should be is Progressive-Lite that`s his problem. The base has NO interest in promoting a Progressive-Lite agenda. The base will either vote for the true conservative or SCREW Cornyn and his Progressive-Lite buddies and vote for the true liberal. That`s Cornyn`s choice. There is NO middle ground. Cornyn has a choice. It is support your base or be the minority party forever. What these Progressive`Lites refuse to admit is that their base in OPEN DEFIANCE voted for 0bama to screw them for giving us McCain. We grown-ups are parents. It`s called "tough love." If the Republicans are going to screw their base, their base can screw them also. I think Cornyn needs an arrogant attitude adjustment. What we grown-ups have to say to Crist is, "Sorry Charlie, you just ain`t good enough to be Starkissed." We feel the same way about Christie in New Jersey. Cornyn, "Proceed at your own risk!"
It's interesting reading here but it probably doesn't matter. The Democrats are going to take this one by running the jobs and other benefits created from the stimulus package up the flag pole -- not to mention Gov. Crist leaving the state in the middle of a crisis. Having said that, from the liberal side, you might want to know that many of us like Charlie Crist and would be very comfortable voting for him.
deggiegd....jobs, what jobs? Benefits,what benefits? Oh, I know. Those jobs at, and benefits to ACORN.
I for one, am a conservative Republican Floridian who will NOT vote for Crist unless he runs against the devil himself. His "environmental" policies are nothing short of disasterous for Florida and his spray-on tan offends me. He is too liberal....too "California" for Florida. Marco Rubio, however, is a cat of another color. He is a true conservative and would actually the values of Republican Floridians. (Disclosure: My daughter Casey worked for him in the House and thinks he's God's gift to women.)
Crist supported the stimulus package. So did the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and many GOP governors. Yes, its true that vitually all the GOP Congressional leadership did not support it, but then again they don't have to make hard choices and run a state. All Marco Rubio has won is his the Florida legislative district while Crist has won state-wide. These stunts by the ultra-right have a chilling effect on moderates (think Tom Ridge) who don't even want to try to run for public office when you have groups like "Club for Growth" who will bash moderates for months before a primary.
When will they ever learn that it's not about winning. It's about winning with the correct principles. Commie-lite isn't going to attract hoards of commited people to the cause. Let Powell, McCain, and Cornyn, play their silly games in another party. The idea is not perfection -it is about having reasonable principles and perservering, regardless of all things. Let the socialist-aethist-hedonist Party run its course. Maybe some day in history there will be a need for civilization(what's left of it) to revolt again and write another constitution encompassing the very same principles we now are so quick to toss aside under the name of winning apolitical battle.
Finally! Something I agree with the party of NO about: Cornyn is a cretin! God, I love it when repugs eat their own!
FIRST GOV.CRIST SHOULD BACK OUT OF TAKING THE ENDORCEMENT FROM THE NRSC.THEN WE MUST GIVE OUR DONATION'S TO THE CANIDATE'S LIKE A TRUE CONSERVATIVE LIKE MARCO RUBIO NOT THE PARTY! GO TO WWW.MARCORUBIO.COM AND DONATE,VOLUNTEER AND VOTE! AND WE WILL WIN!!!!!!
Neither the RNC nor the RNSC will receive a penny from me as long as they keep endorsing Democrat-lite candidates.
Nothing gladdens the heart of this lib more than seeing all you right wingers hating on a republican who has the temerity to be both electable and popular. Keep it up folks! Vote him down in the primary. Force out Snowe and Collins. keep the GOP and the right out of power for the next generation. You've done a bang up job so far. The Left and the Democratic party owes you a debt of gratitude!
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