First, we have a "two convention" method for selecting the AG and SOS candidates.  Sounded great at first blush, but a deeper dig produced all sorts of problems.  (Not the least of these problems was that the Policy Committee didn't like it.)  Nothing personal, but I hope the damn idea goes down in flames at MRSC.

Now, we have a candidate in the "must win" 19th District who seems to have not been properly vetted regarding his Republican credentials.  I'm a big fan of Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment, as well as his 1/5 rule, but right now I'm calling this guy (and by that I mean Nofs) into question.  I know that's going to annoy a few regulars here on RM (as well as a few friends at KCRC) but I'm doing it anyway.

I'll quote from Ambassador Pete Secchia's speech that I posted in my article on KCRC's Project 2010 Kickoff:

Ambassador Peter F. Secchia addressed the assembly.  He recalled that he came to KCRC thirty-two years ago to run for Committee Chair, not having much political experience at the time.  In December of 1976 the Republican Party wasn't feeling too good about itself, and the picture was very bleak; but KCRC came back and - with his leadership - organized the county to the point that every single precinct went for Ronald Reagan in the 1980 election.  They did it by establishing a sound grassroots working relationship with township and city officials, as well as with county and state elected representatives.  They also established and executed single-point coordination of all township and county races, and earned a nationally-recognized reputation in the process.  Yes, we have a screwed-up situation now, but we can rebuild now as we did then, and accomplish great things through it.

Ambassador Secchia also said that, in his judgment, if you have elected officials who demand leadership, then they should win that leadership from their peers, in their caucus, from the people wearing the same party uniform and sharing the same "locker room."  Siding with your opponents is not, as the Grand Rapids Press stated, "reaching out," it is changing your uniform in the middle of the game.  Once you do that, no private political strategy is unshared, and no appointments are fairly represented.  It is "pretend" leadership without a team uniform . . . leadership that will never be able to decide who owes what to whom.

We are best served by having a Republican running for this vacancy who will run like a Republican, and not as a Democrat-light.  I have written previously on what the Republican Party needs to do to come back from the abyss that we are now in, and I stand by that post.