Chris Saxman must have missed Gilmore’s “the race is over” memo

Delegate Chris Saxman was interviewed by Chris Graham on the Augusta Free Press Show.  What was a conversation on state issues and the Augusta GOP took an interesting turn when Saxman brought up the race for the U.S. Senate (to Graham’s surprise).  Here’s the transcript of the exchange (minus the “ums” and “ahs,” emphasis added):

Graham: . . . the big thing for you, working with the McCain campaign, is you just need to focus on November.  McCain campaign, also Jim Gilmore, and Bob Goodlatte, I mean, there are some big things coming up this year -

Saxman: Well, Jim Gilmore isn’t the nominee yet.

Graham: He isn’t the nominee yet, right.

Saxman: I think it’s going to be a very close election at the convention.

Graham: Really?

Saxman: Oh, I do. Absolutely.  Everything I’m hearing on the ground, and delegates being signed up, the life issue is very important.

Graham: Good, well, I’ve talked with all three of the candidates, also Bob Berry, and I know Bob Marshall as well, a few weeks – well, a few days ago, I guess it was last week we ran that podcast – and all three – especially Bob Marshall, as one of the, the top challenger there – seemed very – he had a very good message and from what I’ve been reading, he is drawing some support, so that’s a very good point.

Saxman: Bob – Bob Marshall, that is – is not to be underestimated.  He is strongly principled.  He is affable; he is very funny, very witty.

Graham: Uh, huh.

Saxman: A true gentleman, in every sense of the word.  I mean, he’ll be upset with you on – one moment, the next he’s making a joke with you.  So, he doesn’t – he doesn’t take shots personally; that’s a quality people want to find in a candidate.

Graham: I had not talked with him until last – when I did that podcast last weekend, and I found the same thing.  His reputation might have been different, at least according to the media characterizations of him, but he is exactly as you say.

Saxman: Well, that’s what the media does, I mean, the media paints a portrait that – “he’s controversial.” Bob is very committed to his beliefs but he doesn’t get personal with them.

Graham: Yeah, yeah.

Saxman: You know?  And he’s respected in the legislature, for his intelligence, for his, his in-depth knowledge of the rules of the House, and his comedy.  I mean, people genuinely like Bob.  They’ll disagree with him.

Graham: Yeah.

Saxman: But on many issues they do agree with him, especially on the environment, and growth issues in northern Virginia, where he’s been one of the leaders.  So you honestly do have a pro-life, pro-environmental, limited-government candidate, to run against Mark Warner should he be the, the, nominee.

Graham: Well, thanks for this insight.  I’ll pay closer attention even that I have been in the last couple of -

Saxman: I think you should.  What I’m hearing out of the delegate counts of some of the larger jurisdictions is it’s going to be close.

Graham: Interesting.  Well, I’ll have to follow that. Well, thanks Chris for your time and your insight as always.

Saxman: Sure.

Keep in mind, Graham didn’t push Saxman on this; he wasn’t even expecting it to come up at all.  Saxman took it upon himself to disabuse Graham of the notion that Gilmore’s nomination was a done deal.  That should tell you how much credibility to put in Gilmore’s victory declarations.

Cross-posted to the right-wing liberal

What Others say about Bob Marshall: Integrity Matters!

Our state delegates convention vote is coming up in a month.

If the values in this video matter to you, and you’re heading to the convention to vote, I sure hope you’ll consider Bob Marshall as your best choice.

More “new math” from the Gilmore camp

Now their claiming their man has the whole thing wrapped up (Washington Post, h/t Below the Beltway and Bearing Drift):

“A clear majority of the convention delegates representing more than 6,000 votes have committed to support Governor Gilmore,” Matt Wells, Gilmore campaign political director, said in a statement. “A solid turnout at the GOP convention will be needed to seal victory.”

I only hope he didn’t get those numbers from Dick Leggitt.

By the way, fellas, who’s my unit chair again?

Cross-posted to the right-wing liberal

Apparently Gilmore is using “new math” to count delegates

The Gilmore campaign has been desperate to distract attention from the major strides Bob Marshall is making in the Senate nomination battle.  As the word spread that Marshall may have fought Gilmore to a draw in Chesterfield, Gilmore campaign manager Dick Leggitt responded with an email forwarded to Black Velvet Bruce Li (among others):

Not only did we win Chesterfield and Fairfax by margins of nearly 2:1, but most of the other localities around the Commonwealth are breaking that way as well. Just last night, we won Henrico County by roughly 7:1. These are not guesses, but numbers backed up by actual filings and delegate polling.

The email as I saw it also claimed Gilmore carried Spotsylvania, which would fly in the face of everything I’ve heard.  Then again, the Gilmore people also managed to get our unit chair wrong (hey, Dick, our chairman is Bryce Reeves).

However, BVBL found something much more interesting regarding Leggitt and numbers in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain News (emphasis added):

Marc Holtzman’s campaign for governor lost its lead strategist and spokesman Friday when Dick Leggitt resigned, saying that after weeks of controversy he had become a distraction for the campaign.

 . . .

The resignation comes one week after Leggitt admitted under oath that he sent false polling numbers to a reporter.

. . .

Testifying in a Denver courtroom, Leggitt said he sent bogus numbers to the Denver Post but called it “spin,” and implied that it’s a common practice among political operatives.

Ouch!

One thing BVBL left out – Leggitt’s candidate (Marc Holtzman) did so poorly at the ensuing Republican convention in Colorado (28% – RMN) that he couldn’t even qualifiy for the primary ballot (RMN).

Not to say Marshall will cary 72% of the delegates next month, but you have to wonder.  Is history repeating itself for Leggitt?

Cross-posted to the right-wing liberal

Marshall has half of the delegates in CHESTERFIELD?!?!

Let’s face it; convention delegate counting in Virginia is hardly an exact science, and most of the discussion surrounding this Washington Post piece on the U.S. Senate race has been on Marshall’s strength in NoVa (Mason Conservative) or Gilmore’s bluster (Shaun Kenney).

Still, I am frankly stunned that this comment from Delegate Marshall seemed to go unnoticed (Post):

Marshall said he has also snared about half of the delegates in heavily Republican Chesterfield County in suburban Richmond.

Now, I have never lived in the Richmond suburbs.  For all I know, there is some deep and unabiding hatred between Chesterfield and Henrico.  Barring that, if Marshall is right, this race is over.  Gilmore should be able win Chesterfield in a walk.  If Marshall has (at worst) fought him to a draw there, where else has he outperformed expectations?  We have already seen Marshall crush Gilmore in the Fredericksburg area despite having all three unit chairs backing the latter when the mass meetings started (here in Spotsy, the pro-Gilmore Rob Stuber stepped down and was replaced by the pro-Marshall Bryce Reeves).

Gilmore’s people can talk about paid staff and statewide networks all they want.  If it didn’t win them Chesterfield, it won’t win them the nomination, period.

Cross-posted to the right-wing liberal

Gilmore bloggers hype his big government record on education – again

I honestly thought I had put this tuition freeze nonsense to bed months ago, but Spank That Donkey seems determined to bring it up again.  STD insists that Gilmore should be praised for pouring oceans of cash into the state’s higher education system, calling it “putting excess tax revenues to work for the People.”  This is alarming on multiple levels.

First of all, limited-government conservatives believed the people themselves are the best to judge what to do with “excess tax revenues” – not elected officials, not even Republicans that STD likes.  “Excess tax revenues” are owed to all the people, and should be sent back to them in the form of tax relief, not plowed into the politcally-correct, hyperliberal, right-wing no-go zones that are our public universities (I should know – William and Mary Class of 1994).

To get an idea of just how selective public university students are, I examined the public higher ed enrollement numbers for the last seven years (SCHEV), and then compared it to the number of households in our Commonwealth (Census Bureau).  Here’s what I found:

Year	Students	Households	%
2000	267,746	2,699,173	9.9%
2001	278,461	2,729,881	10.2%
2002	287,872	2,750,203	10.5%
2003	293,315	2,758,374	10.6%
2004	296,774	2,817,881	10.5%
2005	302,981	2,878,454	10.5%
2006	306,024	2,894,202	10.6%

In other words, Gilmore’s decision to plow “excess tax revenues” into the higher education system benefited less than one in every nine Virginia households – hardly putting money to work “for the People.”

From a different angle, however, this is even worse.  One of the many things the American right has done to change the deabte on education in general is to force Americans to see that a government monopoly is not the best way to deliver education.  At the K-12 level, this has led to numerous conservative proposals for education reform under the umbrella of educational choice – in essense, taking the entire idea of government help for education and restructuring it so that the students, not the institutions, are aided.  The conservative movement is making similar moves in housing, medical insurance, and other areas.

Gilmore’s tuition freeze, by contrast, moves in the exact opposite direction.  It doesn’t strengthen individual choice; it limits it by forcing them to use public education in order to benefit from the aid.  It doesn’t embrace the free market; it distorts it by using government power to artificially lower the prices for government-funded universities to the detriment of private and religious ones.

That Gilmore would do this is not surprising; he is a conventional politician, and it’s easier for conventional politicians to write huge checks (with money taken from taxpayers) to institutions.  That STD and other bloggers who worry about the size and scope of government would parrot such populist, left-wing pablum is deeply disturbing.

Fortunately, we have a choice for the U.S. Senate, in particular the chance to choose a more creative  and principled politician: Bob Marshall.  If anything, STD’s latest attempt to win over Republicans should make Marshall more attractive as a candidate, not less, by comparison.

Cross-posted to the right-wing liberal

Marshall takes aim at the biofuel nonsense

I must confess that I have something against “biofuels,” particularly ethanol.  It swallows up more engery to produce than it provides (more than 1.25 BTU to produce 1 BTU worth - Slate).  Thus, its horrendously inefficient, and thus relies on massive government intervention just to be competitive – thus diverting American corn from feeding the world by government fiat.

Case in point: the utterly ridiculous biofuels mandate, which requires that the nation’s fuel use includes an ever increasing biofuel portion.  In Virginia, that’s 9 billion gallons of ethanol, which wipes out 234.9 billion pounds of corn.  Naturally, the price of corn and anything else that requires it (i.e., nearly foodstuff animal raised on the farm, plus milk and eggs) have gone through the roof – and no one seems to notice the government’s hand in literally pushing Americans closer to starvation.

Well, almost no one.  Bob Marshall took aim at the nonsense today (emphasis added):

Del. Bob Marshall is urging Gov. Tim Kaine to petition the federal Environmental Protection Agency for a temporary biofuels waiver in order to cut rising food prices for Virginians, reduce pollution of the Chesapeake Bay, save state budget funds, and help Virginia’s farm and watermen families.

Marshall (R., Manassas), in a letter e-mailed to the governor today (April  9), said “the inflationary federal biofuels mandate,” which requires that 9 billion gallons of ethanol and other biofuels be substituted this year for other types of fuel in Virginia, “has created a food-versus-fuel conflict in our economy.”

Kaine, Marshall wrote in his letter, has authority under the federal 2005 Energy Policy Act and the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act to seek such a temporary waiver if maintaining the  biofuels mandate would “severely harm the economy or environment of a state, a region or the United States.”

“Inflationary prices of food are directly traceable to the diversion of corn from food and feed to fuel, and they affect milk, cheese, other dairy products, beef, cereal, bread and even candy prices,” Marshall, who is seeking the 2008 Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate, wrote.

“The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that food prices are at their highest level since 1990, and has doubled the average of the past 10 years.  Milk and eggs have logged double-digit increases in late 2007 and early 2008, with higher prices forecast.”

. . .

Corn and soybean prices have peaked more than double their historic average, Marshall pointed out, and are projected to increase even higher.  High feed costs are “decimating Virginia’s agricultural base of broilers, turkeys, eggs and dairy and beef cattle,” which he wrote “is an important economic engine in many parts of the state, including the Shenandoah Valley.”

This is exactly the sort of special interest government intervention that must be stopped.  This was one of the reasons I came so quickly to support John McCain (who was willing to campaign against ethanol subsidies – in Iowa).  Even though Virginia is hardly the corn-dependent state that Iowa is, it takes a lot of guts to stand up to Archer Daniels Midland and “Big Corn.”  Kudos to Marshall for doing just that.

Cross-posted to the right-wing liberal

Marshall Won’t Back Down When it Comes to Life Issues

Much as the Clintons say they will not be scared off by Pro-life advocates, Bob Marshall won’t back down from Pro-death advocates like the Clintons!

The US Senate is so screwed up with panderers and compromisers that one can only assume that there’s a sign at the door that reads, “Check your morals and principles at the door.”

Bob is just the kind of guy to take a chainsaw to a sign like that and carve “NO MORE” in the wall where the sign was!

There was a time when Mark Warner was on tap for President too… would he have been any more cordial to the pro-life students?  Methinks not.

---

Steubenville, OH (LifeNews.com) — Former president Bill Clinton made a campaign stop for Hillary in Steubenville, Ohio on Sunday and found himself greeted by more than 100 pro-life students from nearby Steubenville University. According to eye witnesses accounts, Clinton lost his temper and lashed out at the pro-life students during the speech.Clinton’s heated response came after being questioned on his support of abortion-on-demand.

“I gave you the answer. We disagree with you,” Clinton said about the position he and Hillary Clinton hold on abortion.

Clinton relied on the old argument that pr-life advocates want to put women in prison, even though abortion bans have never targeted women because they are a second victim in the abortion process.

“You want to criminalize women and their doctors and we disagree,” he said of the pro-life advocates.

“If you were really pro-life, if you were really pro-life, you would want to put every doctor and every mother as an accessory to murder in prison. And you won’t say you want to do that because you know that because you know that you wouldn’t have a lick of political support,” he added.

Clinton claimed his police and those that Hillary Clinton supports are doing more to reduce abortions even though both have steadfastly opposed bills to limit abortions, such as a ban on partial-birth abortions not spending taxpayer money on abortions.

“Now, the issue is you can’t name me anybody presently in politics that did more to introduce policies that reduce the number of real abortions instead of the hot air putting out to tear people up and make votes by dividing America,” he said.

Billy Valentine, one of the Franciscan University of Steubenville students who helped organize the protest, told LifeNews.com that he was surprised Clinton would go to Steubenville after hundreds of students told John Kerry he was wrong on supporting abortion.

“Perhaps national Democrats will finally realize that they can’t take the heat from Steubenville pro-life students,” he said.

“I have been amazed by the stupidity of these pro-abortion Democrats who think they can come campaign anywhere near Steubenville, especially after the utter embarrassment John Kerry went through in 2004 when he came here,” he added.

Later, Clinton said Hillary should become the Democratic nominee because she will stand up to pro-life advocates.

“This is not your rally. I heard you. That’s another thing you need is a president, somebody who will stick up for individual rights and not be pushed around, and she won’t,” he said.

Marshall Sweeping Fredericksburg Region Delegates

An unofficial exit poll/survey was taken by a good friend of mine at the Spotsylvania County mass meeting this past weekend and also a friend in the city reported similar numbers. Both were kind enough to share the results with me.  While these are in no way scientific or exact, they are firmly rooted in the rapid-response answers that were given signifying (to me at least) that people didn’t have the time to think about deceiving the pollster or make up an excuse why they wouldn’t share their thoughts.  In both locations, most people did not hesitate a second in pronouncing who they intend to support at the convention according to my contacts.

With approximately 134 delegates counted on site at the Spotsy meeting, 112 or about 84% say they will vote for Marshall. 2 said “neither” and 1 said “none of your business”

With approximately 21 delegates identified in the City of Fredericksburg, 17 or 81% say they will vote for Marshall. No one here said neither or none of your business! I guess that makes City folks nicer?

I’ve heard from a few active party members in Stafford that the split is a little closer there, something along the lines of 60-65%  for Marshall but that they didn’t recognize a large number of meeting attendees there, so there could be something going on with either unscrupulous Democrat infiltration, or what I’d like to think is that “the great re-awakening of the slumbering conservatives” is occuring.  I don’t have a delegate count up there yet as I’m not sure if they’ve confirmed them or not.  So Stafford is far less accurate and more of a guesstimate.

The best part about this in-party race is that EITHER man is a better choice than Mark “I will raise your taxes” Warner.

I’m looking forward to news from the other counties as they become available.  In my area at least, it seems that Marshall has scarfed up delegate votes in a big way for now.