The Anti-Sam Brownback Blog

Over at RedState, a post entitled “They All Suck” eviscerates the current crop of GOP presidential wannabes. Their comments on Senator Brownback’s quest to be President:

[Brownback] has a better chance of getting hit by a meteor while being consumed by a blue whale being struck by lightening.

They all suck. (Well, okay, Brownback doesn’t suck at all, but I perceive no viability for his candidacy.)

Brownback thus far has not convinced, nor even made inroads in convincing, most GOP primary voters that he has a chance of winning a general election. He is viewed as utterly unelectable due to his views on abortion, gay rights, and religion in government. I sense a sort of pity for Brownback in the conservative blogs. A feeling that he represents all that they do (with the glaring omission of the immigration issue) and because of that has no chance to succeed with the American public at large.

There is one way, and one way only, that Brownback can overcome this electability argument. Cold. Hard. Cash. If he turns in a stellar fundraising report on January 31st he can prove that he is a serious candidate that could be competitive. If he raises a piddly sum, then it will be clear that the GOP donor class does not think he has a chance and thus does not think he is worth the investment.

According to an AP article, he just might:

Candidates are supposed to enjoy the unquestioned backing of their parties in their home states for the obvious benefits it could bring to the state. In 1996, when Bob Dole was the GOP nominee, there seemed no question from the beginning that he would enjoy the support of any Kansas Republican of any prominence.

However, there are questions about whether Brownback can say the same.

Not only does his strong opposition to abortion and embryonic stem cell research bother moderates, but many believe he has actively helped push the state GOP to the right.

“Sen. Brownback has got to reach out to traditional Republicans, and he doesn’t seem too eager to do that,” Ryan Wright, executive director of the moderate Kansas Traditional Republican Majority, said Monday. “That leaves their votes up for grabs.”

I think it really says something when you are too extreme for the Kansas Republican Party. I have heard many of the same arguments coming from some of my Republican friends. Perhaps it is people swinging away from the hardcore Christian conservative mindset. I would note that Operation Rescue (the aborted fetus truck people) tried to stage another massive protest in Wichita that only managed to turn out 20 people.

• **Americablog notes Sam Brownback’s refusal to take a personal position on gay adoption. John thinks this may be due to the Mary Cheney effect, but I would argue this is part of Brownback’s neccesary (but slight) moderation as he looks to prove to the GOP base that he is not a total loon and he just might be electable in the general election.
• **The Rights Field has the text of Brownback’s announcement and also remarks that, “There are a few phrases that Brownback uses repeatedly - great nation, American-sized goals, goodness.” I would add “covered in ‘The Jesus’”, but that’s just me…
• **RedState.com (a conservative blog) note’s Senator Brownback’s presidential announcement with the headline: “Thus Begins a Quixotic Quest”. The folks that write and hang out on RedState aren’t exactly moderate. Brownback will have to convince them, and those like them, that he is a serious candidate.

Poor guy. Nothing like announcing your run for the presidency on the same day that Hillary Clinton secretly picked. I don’t have a link yet for the Clinton announcement, but I have an email from her campaign stating that she will form an exploratory committee. I figure this will just about overshadow anything Brownback does today.

According to an email I received this afternoon, Senator Sam Brownback has confirmed he is making the next step in his Presidential bid:

It’s Official: Brownback to Announce for the Presidency…

United States Senator
Sam Brownback (R-KS)

Will announce his intention to run for President of the United States this Saturday in Topeka, KS. Please join the Senator as he begins this historic quest from his home state.

When:
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Doors Open: 10:30 AM
Doors Close: 11:30 AM
Event Begins: 12:00 PM Sharp!

This event is by invitation only and is non-transferable!

Where:
Heritage Hall at the Kansas Expocentre
1 Expocentre Drive
Topeka, KS 66612

Please RSVP to:
Martin Gillespie (mgillespie@brownback.com)

Questions?
Please contact the Brownback for President campaign at (785) 220-2615.

###

PAID FOR BY BROWNBACK FOR PRESIDENT, EXPLORATORY COMMITTEE
P.O. Box 2008 | Topeka, KS 66601-2008 |

Time magazine has an interesting article that summarizes the Christian Right’s uneasy feelings about the current crop of front runners for 2008. Their comment on Brownback:

Many conservatives had high hopes for Virginia’s George Allen and Pennsylvania’s Rick Santorum–until they lost their Senate re-election races last year. And Evangelicals say they adore all-but-announced contender Sam Brownback, a former Evangelical who converted to Catholicism and is one of the Senate’s most ardent opponents of embryonic-stem-cell research and gay marriage. But they are skeptical that the Kansas Senator can broaden his appeal enough beyond religious voters to have a chance of winning.

Brownback now has to prove he has “what it takes” to run for president before the money and volunteers come pouring in from the conservative Christians. Ironically, money and volunteers are used as a metric for early success. Howard Dean overcame this same dilemma in 2003 by reaching out on the internet to build a vast small donor network but one look at Brownback’s pitiful website should make it obvious that internet strategy is currently not a priority.

Brownback will likely attempt to do the same thing except through existing church groups and bible studies. This takes plenty of face time, but time is the only resource Brownback has in his advantage at this point.

From ABC news:

“He will be fully announcing on January 20 in Topeka, Kansas,” Brian Hart, the senator’s spokesman, said Friday. The move was expected even though Brownback set up an exploratory committee in December to gauge whether he had enough support for a full-blown campaign.

After the announcement in Kansas, Hart said Brownback will fly to Washington to participate in the anti-abortion march marking the anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling.

Stay tuned for more information about Sam’s visit to Washington…

All the news that’s fit to print in Brownback land:

• The KC Buzz Blog reports on two staff aquisitions the Brownback camp released today:
  

  In Iowa, Brownback hired his first full-time staffer, Trainor Walsh, as field representative. Walsh, who worked for Iowa Republican Rep. Jim Leach’s 2002 re-election campaign, most recently was the Regional Political Director for the Legislative Majority Fund, overseeing 13 State House campaigns in eastern Iowa. He is a University of Iowa grad and lives in Des Moines. He also has workd on campaigns in Massachusetts, Florida and Virginia.

  And a veteran of Steve Forbes 1996 and 2000 Iowa campaigns has signed on to Brownback’s advisory committee. Kevin McLaughlin, an investment professional, ran Polk County (that’s Des Moines) for Forbes in 1996 and was Vice-Chair of Forbes’ statewide campaign in 2000.

• The Kansas City Star reports on Brownback in South Carolina. His line? “I think there’s room in the field for someone with full-scale conservative values.” What a shocker!

So apparently Senator Sam Brownback doesn’t care that his fellow Kansan Senator Pat Roberts believes McCain is more fit for the Presidency:

Brownback, who formed a presidential exploratory committee less than two weeks ago, said prior to a speech to Christian radio employees that it didn’t make sense to worry about endorsements at this point even if the talk centered on Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan.

“This is very early,” said Brownback, also a Kansas Republican. “There’s a long ways to go.”

Roberts said in a statement that he hadn’t endorsed any of the several potential candidates for president. However, The Washington Post reported that Roberts told a group of lobbyists and corporate executives this week that he intended to back McCain, an Arizona senator considered a front-runner for the nomination.

So Roberts now claims he “did no such thing” as endorse McCain. I would imagine Roberts has sent a couple of nasty emails towards Bob Novak, who broke the story in the Washington Post last week.

Roberts must have known his voice of support for McCain would eventually get out… so it is not clear to me why he declared his support so early. Does he think Brownback will drop out soon,perhaps when his paltry fundraising report is tunrned in Jan. 31st? Maybe Roberts thought he could keep it under wraps until that point. Then again, perhaps Roberts thought a private meeting about a front-runner for 2008 would be kept private. Yeah, right.

Regardless, having your home state Senator endorse some other guy doesn’t look good for a candidate like Brownback who is trying to prove that he is relevant to the debate.