Losing a Primary the Tea Party Way: A Study in Contrasts

Ovide Lamontagne, the tea party candidate who lost a close primary for Senate in New Hampshire, is speaking out today about the contrast between the way we lose and the way RINO's lose.  In his guest editorial for the American Thinker, Ovide confirms that he waived the right to a recount in his 1,600 vote loss to Kelly Ayotte for the purpose of party unity.  Even though he worked so hard and was outspend 6-1 by Ayotte, he declined to push forward because it was a late September primary and he knew that such a fiasco would only benefit the Democrat.  Lamontagne explains,

"My foremost concern is defeating Paul Hodes and his liberal agenda, and I feared that the delay in unifying our party would negatively affect our ability to win in November. Accordingly, when Kelly Ayotte was declared the primary winner in a very close race, I waived our right to a recount and committed my support to her campaign, asking my supporters to do the same."

He goes on to contrast his behavior to that of the RINO sore losers (the ones who are always lecturing about supporting any R regardless of their views).

"Despite the disappointment of a close primary loss, it is unacceptable for a truly conservative candidate to abandon the Republican Party's platform and its nominee in pursuit of a write-in candidacy or as an independent candidate. Such a strategy only enhances the likelihood of victory by the Democrats. This is a step I never considered."

"It is for these reasons that I am so troubled by the decisions of Charlie Crist in Florida and Lisa Murkowski in Alaska to ignore the will of the voters and pursue paths to power for their personal self-interest, at the potential expense of conservative gains in November. At this critical time, we must subordinate our personal self-interest to that of the greater good, which is to restore the power of people over government, to break the stranglehold of the special interests and the entitlement class over Congress, and to devolve power from Washington back to the states and the people. The unprincipled, self-serving actions of Murkowski and Crist threaten these important goals, and they must be rejected by Republican leaders and activists everywhere."

I would also add Florida Gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum to the list of RINO traitors.  He refused to endorse the eventual nominee Rick Scott and even toyed with the idea of supporting the radical leftist Democrat Alex Sink.  Let's not even mention Mike "the King of the" Castle!  These people are simply running to promote their own greed and power.


Another beautiful example of conservative conviction was on display in NY-23, where Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman announced today that he will suspend his campaign to endorse the Republican nominee Matt Doheny.  The argument can be made that the tea party insurgency in electoral politics all started with Doug Hoffman.  He overcame huge odds to come close to winning last November's special election, but suffered a heartbreaking loss in the very end to blue dog fraud, Bill Owens.  Last year, anyone would have told you that Doug Hoffman would have been a shoe-in for the Republican nomination and stand an excellent chance to defeat Owens this November.  Unfortunately, another Republican, Matt Doheny, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to win the Republican nomination.  If there was ever a  heartbreaking loss in electoral politics it was in NY-23 in back to back years for Hoffman.  However, despite Hoffman's place on the Conservative line of the ballot, and the fact that he has some concerns about Doheny, Hoffman is stepping aside.  He realizes that Doheny is no Scozzafava, and Hoffman's presence in the race would only ensure the reelection of Bill Owens.


The bottom line is that the RINO's and establishment types aren't the ones who are out in the field bleeding for the cause.  Conservatives have worked tirelessly to elect and reelect Republicans of every stripe for years.  How do you think people like Arlen Specter kept winning  reelection?  I don't know about you, but I have certainly never met a plethora of RINO's on the campaign trail who are knocking on doors and holding up signs.  Have you?  Then again, that's what sets us apart from these treacherous elitists.  As Ovide Lamontagne writes in his closing paragraph:

"leaders" like Lisa Murkowski and Charlie Crist are absolutely wrong to thwart the will of the conservative movement as expressed by the voters in a Republican primary, and they must be opposed. Their egotistical behavior exposes their concern only with their personal political futures. The future of our Republic hangs in the balance. I stand with the millions of Americans fighting to preserve that future through implementing conservative change, and I serve the greater good, which is greater than the interest of self-absorbed elites desperately clinging to or seeking power."