I have written on a number of occasions about the calculus of candidate endorsements. Political agreement is necessary but insufficient to warrant an endorsement. A candidate must have a reasonable chance of winning to be worthy of securing a major endorsement, else the endorser is squandering an endorsement. A string of losing endorsements diminishes the endorser's political capital. Despite protestations to the contrary, Gov. Palin got this endorsement right, just as she did the others. The following proves the point:
No Chance Against Boxer in a General Election
On November 6, 2009, the Los Angeles Times wrote that the outcome of a Boxer-Devore race would be inevitable, and not in Devore's favor. On November 16, 2009, Salon.com wrote that Devore could win a GOP primary but could not win a general election.
Poor Fundraising - Devore Already Spent 90% of Money Raised
According to a Washington Independent article published November 16, 2009, Devore raised $700K and has less than one tenth of it left. The Independent reported that Devore had raised $700K and had $60K remaining. Devore's fundraising situation was deteriorating two months prior, when according to a December 10, 2009 Washington Post article, Devore had only $144K and conceded he would have difficulty raising money to compete against Fiorina.
Devore Fights Republicans Working to Defeat Sen. Boxer
Devore has had a long-running feud with the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC). Aaron Blake reported on December 17, 2009 that Devore would not be seeking the NRSC's help. Reid Wilson of the National Journal’s Hotline On Call, wrote on December 16, 2009 that the Devore campaign twice sent meeting requests to the wrong office. Further, though Devore is a Republican he has alienated the NRSC. Both sides are locked in heated arguments over who invited who to meetings, and allegations of favoritism, according to Reid.
According to Aaron Blake, who wrote "Outsider Senate Candidates Decline Republican Party’s Offer To Help," for The Hill on December 17, 2009, NRSC spokesman Brian Walsh said the Devore campaign "likes to play games." Walsh continued, "It’s unfortunate, but if and when they’d like to stop this nonsense and work with us on defeating Barbara Boxer next year, we look forward to meeting with them."
Devore is a Birther...
The Washington Independent wrote on November 16, 2009 that Devore was using Obama's birth records in an attempt to turn conservatives away from Firoina.
Class Warfare
On August 13, 2009, the American Spectator reported that Devore referred to Fiorina as a "dilettante" and a "rich moderate." More than three months later, on November 18, 2009, the Assoicated Press reported that Devore would "attack Firorina on core economic issues.
Devore Concedes Lack of Name Recognition
According to the Wall Street Journal, in a December 14, 2009 article, Fiorina is a nationally known figure; however, Devore has little name recognition outside his Orange County District. While he raised $1 million, Fiorina is projected to raise at least $10 million.
The Fiorina Campaign, is Focused, Organized, and Ready
The California Progress Report's November 17, 2009 assessment was that "Fiorina will almost certainly win her primary election over GOP opponent Chuck DeVore, which will pit her against Boxer in November." The Washington Times two days later would write about Fiorina's aggressive campaign against Boxer's cap and tax legislation.
According to a November 19, 2009 Roll Call article, Dan Scnhur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California and a former Republican political strategist said, "Fiorina has the potential to be the most formidable opponent that Boxer’s ever faced." The Star-Ledger wrote a concurring article on November 5, 2009.
Conclusion
To be a worthwhile endorsement, the candidate must be running an effective campaign and have good odds of winning. Endorsements are not merely about who is the most conservative. That is but one factor in a complicated decision-making process - a calculus. Governor Palin is politically astute, having been in politics for over 18 years. Every endorsement she makes is carefully considered. Some people might get upset because their dream candidate was not endorsed. Perhaps, if they took a mental step back and did some of the calculus involved, they would understand why their dream candidate did not secure the endorsement.
Candidate endorsements are not just about principles. They're about winning. They're also high-risk, for if one of her endorsed candidates loses, it reflects on Governor Palin. She is not going to squander the political capital she worked so hard to build, to make a few purists happy. Our goal between now and November 2, 2010 is to take back the House and the Senate, so that Obama's agenda can be stalled, neutered and reversed.
In this senatorial race, Fiorina, not Devore is the one who can beat Boxer. Devore's campaign has squandered funds almost as soon as they were raised and alienated key Republicans through its amateurish operations. Devore also does not have national name recognition critical in a federal election. The foregoing clearly indicates that winning a primary will be next to impossible for Devore, and Boxer will win a general election with him as the opposition.
Governor Palin most absolutely did the right thing endorsing Fiorina.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Bristol Palin says Palin 2012 would be awesome
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Bristol, now a spokesperson for abstinence, promoted The Candie’s Foundation, a non-profit organization hosting numerous events and launching new multi-media campaigns aimed at preventing teenage pregnancy. It also coincided with National Day to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, May 5th.
“It’s not just affecting me now; it affects me for my whole life,” Palin said of her choice to have sex, resulting in pregnancy. “It’s not the best situation.”
Palin also tried to dispel the impression that she may have it easy as a single, teenage mom who is part of a famous family.
“I live by myself. I’m out on my own,” she said. “My family is not at my disposal. I’m a single mom.”
When asked about her mom, Sarah Palin, running for President in 2012, Bristol replied, “it would be awesome."
Read more articles by the National Sarah Palin Examiner at Examiner.com
Sarah Palin Shakes Up California (and the Nation) Endorses Carly Fiorina
Regular readers know that I spent a lifetime in sales and management, which gave me quite an insight into successful leadership, and what makes a great leader. Reading Sarah Palin’s notes on the occasion of her endorsement of Carly Fiorina for the United States Senate reminded me of a great leader I had the pleasure to work with, who taught me what it took to be effective.
Roy was an incredible man. He was a real master of strategery and a solid tactician. I never saw someone who could think so fast on his feet, and manage affairs so well. He was great with people, if not a bit gruff at times, deep down, he was a real softy, but only to those who knew him best.
One thing Roy understood is that sometimes, to get the desired result, you had to shake things up. Sometimes that meant taking a decent team member, that just wasn’t getting it done, and wasn’t gonna get it done, and putting in someone that could, and would. Sure, egos would get bruised, but professionals understood, and in the end, everyone was much to the better for it.
Leaders lead, which brings me to Sarah Palin:
Let’s shake it up in California! (Updated)
I’d like to tell you about a Commonsense Conservative running for office in California this year. She grew up in a modest home with a school teacher dad, worked her way through several colleges, and then entered an arena where few women had tread. Through a combination of hard work, perseverance, and common sense, she proved the naysayers wrong to reach the top of her field, where she led with distinction – facing hard truths, making tough decisions, and showing real leadership through a rocky transition period. Where others had failed, her company had weathered the storm and settled on a stronger new foundation.
Her name is Carly Fiorina, and I’m proud to endorse her for U.S. Senate.
Carly is the Commonsense Conservative that California needs and our country could sure use in these trying times. Most importantly, she’s running for the right reasons. She has an understanding that is sorely lacking in D.C. She’s not a career politician. She’s a businesswoman who has run a major corporation. She knows how to really incentivize job creation. Her fiscal conservatism is rooted in real life experience. She knows that when government grows, the private sector shrinks under the burden of debt and deficits. We can trust Carly to do the right thing for America’s economy and to make the principled decisions she has throughout her professional career.
Please consider that Carly is the conservative who has the potential to beat California’s liberal senator, Barbara Boxer, in November. I’m a huge proponent of contested primaries, so I’m glad to see the contest in California’s GOP, but I support Carly as she fights through a tough primary against a liberal member of the GOP who seems to bear almost no difference to Boxer, one of the most leftwing members of the Senate. Carly needs our support in this crucial election year when we have a real chance of putting an end to the Pelosi/Reid "Big Government" agenda.
I hope you’ll join me in supporting Carly. Visit her website here, and follow her on Facebook and Twitter. Read up on her positions and plans to help get us on the right track.
California is still Reagan Country, and Carly promises her "Reagan Conservative" values will be put to good use for her state and for our great nation. Shaking it up in California is long overdue. Let’s help Carly do it!
- Sarah Palin
Update: I’d like to add a few things about my Carly endorsement because some reaction right out of the chute calls for more information:
Carly has been endorsed by the National Right to Life, the California Pro-Life Council, and the Susan B. Anthony List. She is pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, pro-military, and pro-strict border security and against amnesty. She is against Obamacare and will vote to repeal it and prevent the government takeover of private companies and industries. Carly is also a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. Like me, she is a member of the NRA, has a 100% NRA rating, and she and her husband are gun owners. She is pro-energy development and believes as I do in an all-of-the-above approach to energy independence. She is against cap and tax. And most importantly, Carly is the only conservative in the race who can beat Barbara Boxer. That’s no RINO. That’s a winner.
- Sarah Palin
If you notice, Sarah had to do a little bit of an update. It seems that some don’t understand why Sarah made this bold move and endorsed Carly over Chuck DeVore who some consider the "real" conservative. Though I’m in Texas, both I and my West Coast buddy Stacy Drake kind of liked Chuck DeVore.. We hoped Sarah would take a look at Chuck.
The thing is, Sarah did take a look Chuck as well as Carly, in context of the big picture. Here’s the deal, extensive polling shows that DeVore had peaked, and was backing up, losing ground, while liberal "Republican" Tom Campbell was barely edging out Carly for the nomination. Sarah looked at this and knew she had to shake things up.
Electing Tom Campbell would be like giving Barbara "Don’t Call Me Ma’am" Boxer another six years. Campbell is not simply a RINO (Republican in name only) he is, to borrow from Mark Steyn, a DIABLO (Democrat in all but name only)
He's pro-abortion, has an "F" rating from the NRA, pro-gay marriage, pro-cap and tax, and so on.Campbell has taken campaign donations from a convicted terrorist, which makes him a lot more like Barack Obama than most in the Republican Party would like! Here’s the thing that I imagine really set Sarah off though: Campbell has consistently voted against supporting Israel, and as someone who has repeatedly taken Obama to the woodshed for his personal jihad against our Jewish friends and allies, one just can’t see Sarah putting up with that in her own party.
In short, Tom Campbell is De De Scozzafava on steroids! Not exactly what our nation needs.
As for DeVore, he has his own issues,... with ethics,... and we know what Sarah thinks of unethical politicians, now don’t we! Seems that DeVore was using [taxpayer] money from his state office to pay his campaign staff. That’s a very big deal.
While we are talking about DeVore, he and his people showed their true colors today. Many of us liked the guy, but he, his staff, and supporters threw a hissy fit when Sarah announced she was going to endorse Carly. DeVore’s spokesman Joshua Trevino had this to say about his boss's failing campaign:
This grassroots movement is actually a grassroots movement, Carly Fiorina thinks she can find the sheepdog to corral the sheep. Chuck DeVore knows they’re not sheep at all. They’re Americans. And they’ll make their own decisions.
Stay classy there Josh!
This kinda reminds me of the guy who asks the most popular girl to the high school prom, gets turned down, and then decides to go key her car as revenge. Very immature.
BTW...the "sheepdog" reference comes from the infamous Demon Sheep ad attacking Tom Campbell for lying about being a fiscal Conservative:
Remember now, DeVore sought Sarah’s endorsement, which make the reaction by him and his supporters a real turn off. There’s no crying in politics Chuck!
Stacy Drake offers up her must read take on all of these developments, as a Californian, here.
The bottom line on all of this is quite simple really. Tom Campbell is unacceptable, and Chuck DeVore is simply unelectable. So unacceptable is Campbell that leaving Senator "Don’t Call Me Ma’am" in office is almost more preferable! Campbell is more dangerous than Senator Boxer. At least Boxer has never taken money from a convicted terrorist Tom Campbell has! And despite her really long list of faults, Barbara Boxer has never failed to support Israel. Tom Campbell, on the other hand, sides with the Obama regime and share’s the disdain for our friends and allies.
In short...electing Tom Campbell would be a total disaster for the nation.
Sadly, for those who support DeVore, even after he and his supporters lack of class and professionalism, all you may succeed in doing is electing Tom Campbell.
With that thought in mind, we are enthusiastically endorsing Carly Fiorina and encourage our readers to do the same. Carly was the CEO of Hewlett-Packard. She is the only one in the race who has ever had to make payroll. Not sure about anyone else, but I think we need more seasoned business leaders and a hell of a lot less trial lawyers and "constitutional law professors" in D.C. How about you?
Sarah Palin is a true leader. She has looked at things, seen what must be done, and picked a winner, someone of principle, who is herself a leader. Sarah has shaken things up for the good of the team. I bet if Roy was still with us, he’d smile in approval and say "Let’s go!"
Carly is known for her rather inventive and entertaining campaign ads, and I agree with my pal Stacy, this is one of the best campaign ads ever. Simply epic. Enjoy:
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