Vote for the most conservative candidate in the primaries and vote for the R in the general.

Stop jumping ahead to the general because in politics, anything can happen. Look at Brown or Rubio or Miller to see how those destined to win….didn’t.

There is no fait accompli. Just vote your conscience.

IMHO, YMMV, and all those other acronyms people like to type so as not to seem too presumptuous.

absolutely BRILLIANT! She called the Delaware GOP and she talked about the 21K she made within 2 days after they came after with the trash and how she only made 30K the whole month prior! She called out Castle for his vote to DESTROY OUR Country with Cap & Tax. She is going to be a GREAT Senator!

Obtw the WSJ WANTED McCain-Kennedy as well. The WSJ quite like the other Rockefeller Republicans are beasts of the Political Class!

“I would rather 50 seats without Mike Castle than 51 seats with Mike Castle.”

Where were you for Florida’s Fifth?

how powerful your voice is. Sometimes silence is golden, Erick. Whatever your intention, I interpreted your original post as moving on and “pulling the plug” on Christine because she was not fast enough to denounce lies told about Castle by her associates. I thought about Newt Gingrich mouthing off in support of DeDe Scozzafava until the last minute, and me screaming “Just Shut Up, Newt!” Christine is one of the “ordinary” people…like me. She is hanging in there in spite of the nay sayers, and I for one am praying for a Joe Miller miracle. I think enough midgets have been eaten already. God save our great nation, and God Speed to Christine!
Donna in Texas

I would much rather 51 votes with Castle.

I believe in “as conservative as possible to win” given two things:
1) The level of conservatism of the state (red, purple, blue).
2) The tide of the current climate (essentially where we are in the gallup poll)

I am willing to believe (though it is hard) that some conservative Republican could have won the Deleware Senate seat. From all I’ve read, O’Donnell isn’t polling like that person. Perhaps if she were actually going against an incumbant, she might poll better.

Additionally, whoever wins this will be seated IMMEADIATELY and would be eligible to vote against stuff in the lame duck session and Castle is against many if not all of the items that the Dems are planning to try to force through so that is significant in the short term (H/T The Campaign Spot).

Finally, I will say this, Deleware Republicans are free to do what they want. They know their state better than anyone, but I would want to be sure that O’Donnell had a good shot to win before I threw away a chance at a definite win from a guy with a 50+ rating by the ACU in a state habitually represented by Democrats.

As always, once the primary is done, I’m sure we’ll both get behind the Republican candidate.

Don’t miss the post by ratetrip called Showdown in Delaware. Although I’m about to disagree with it, it gets down to the core of the issue, and further crystallizes an argument that many are making. I’ll risk summarizing his argument and invite him to push back if I miss the mark:

‘We can only get a certain percentage of Conservatives with the resources we have. Beyond 80% or so, the cost of supporting candidates becomes prohibitive and the chance of winning goes way down. Shooting for 100% Conservative is making the perfect the enemy of the good”

The so-called ‘marginal utility’ argument behind this thinking makes some sense, but realize that it cuts both ways.

I agree there is a high cost with lower probability in some races, but in the year of Joe Miller I actually think that we are puncturing many false illusions about the unassailability of Progressive Republicans in primaries. In Delaware they are polling neck and neck in the primary, so the whole “O’Donnell can’t win no matter how much we spend” doesn’t reflect reality but a deep-seated insecurity about the ability of Conservatives to win in New England against Democrats.

But granting for the moment that O’Donnell can’t win, I’d like to make a marginal utility argument for the other side:

We gain very little from adding another R to the Senate if that R is going to vote to erode the Constitution and follow the Progressive agenda.

I recognize that flipping the committee chairs with a majority has a major effect, and I suppose it can be argued that that makes it worth having an Arlen Specter making every Progressive bill a ‘bipartisan’ one and convincing the American people that there is no difference, but I can’t go there.

An accountant (which I am not) looks at the number of seats. As a marketing guy, I look at the cost of destroying the brand, which has been absolutely cataclysmic for the Republicans.

So beyond flipping the Senate, what additional benefit is derived from adding Progressive Republicans to the Senate, relative to the cost in destroying the Republican brand by leaving it (rightly) open to charges of cynical hypocrisy?

It adds no votes, because Progressives vote for the Progressive agenda. A Progressive Democrat would do the same, without eroding the Republican brand.

I would actually rather have a Democratic Progressive in Delaware than a Republican Progressive. The votes are the same, but people have somewhere to run to when they finally hit bottom.

Erick, whatever happened to your claim on August 2:

“If Mike Castle becomes the next United States Senator from Delaware he is going to get sworn in, serve a bit, then become a Democrat, resign, and let Beau Biden get an appointment.

It’s a done deal. The deal has been made already. I’m hearing this not just from Christine O’Donnell people, but party regulars in Delaware, some of whom support Castle. It is insane.”

http://www.redstate.com/erick/2010/08/02/why-is-mike-castle-running-from-christine-odonnell/

I never saw anything else about this. It’s possible I missed it, though.

But Castle is going to win this one going away. He took a lesson from what happened to Murkowski in Alaska and began rolling out ads and endorsements leading up to today. He didn’t sit on his lead. I don’t care for Castle much either as he voted for cap-and-trade and helped co-author the DISCLOSE Act. However, with so many conservative GOP Senate candidates looking to win in November, having Castle help create a GOP majority and chairing the Senate committees possibly really should be the goal here.

Remember…50 votes without Castle means…a Dem majority.

Second, O’Donnell has run an amateur campaign. I am really sorry to say that, but it is the truth. I wish we had a competent conservative voice in the election, but Ms. O’Donnell has not been that voice.

I fully support Erick’s take on this. Yeah, a more conservative voice is preferable…but we then should run more competent people.

Erick in today’s Union Leader there is an editorial praising Ovide’s integrity in what is turning into a mud slinging election. http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=It%27s+Ovide%3A+There+is+no+better+choice&articleId=fccc49cf-bd1d-4d7f-99ee-8233b61657c5
He is running against 2 millionaires and an establishment backed candidate. Please consider donating to Ovides’s campaign and help him have the funds to compete. http://ovide2010.com/

To continue in my vein of bashing erick whenever he starts sounding like an egomaniac….I gotta say you really have gotten a Jan Brady vibe lately.

Most front page authors and diarists write research or opinion pieces which take a form of distance, and I find too many of yours take a “this is what I think”…you might aspire to the golden microphone, but this site isn’t all about you, and your opinion. Is it the Redstate opinion that we are conservative in the primary, and hope a non conservative republican loses in the general? I missed that change.

You have gone too maverick, Christine O’donnel is by all accounts a tailcoater. She can rail off conservative talking points, btu personally I don’t feel comfortable supporting someone who has aspired to political office all their life, never been particularly succesful at it, never has shown any real competency in the private sector (would give a pass to career military though).

And as Jasonhsv says above, whatever happend to your alarm about Mike Castle?

We don’t need any Robespierre’s or Khmer Rouge killing fields on our side. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the truth wins out in the end. Calm down, understand your influence,a nd don’t let it go to your head.

And voting for purity is not a strategy that leads to actually winning.

That is what Mr. Erickson is starting to sound like. Candidate X isn’t perfect therefore the Democrat should win! Whoever supports X over Y has sold out their principles and the conservative movement! If I can’t get the candidate I want then vote for the Dem! Enough already! This is DELAWARE! I supported Rubio in Florida, Lee in Utah, Haley in SC, and Buck in Colorado. I was pleasantly surprised that Miller won in Alaska (I hadn’t been following this race too closely) and he has my full support in the general. However, not only can’t O’Donnell can’t win, she just isn’t that great a candidate. I’m NOT a fan of Castle and even less of one of Kirk, but I would hold my nose and vote for them because they are the best we can hope for in a DEEP BLUE state. I’d take Pete DuPont in a second over Castle, but he isn’t running. You make the best with what you have and besides he is one closer to 60 needed to repeal Obamacare, which he will (if Nelson, Bayh, and the lady from Louisiana can be bought, so can Castle & Co.). Plus, I want to see the media’s head explodes when we knock off half the Dem Senate Leadership (Reid & Murray), and take Obama’s and Biden’s old seats.

This seat could also be the 60th vote to break filibusters if we’re successful in 2012, or the 61st, 62nd, etc that avoids the need for a unanimous caucus.

For that matter, it could also be vote 52 or 53 after this election.

Have different opinions, and that’s fine. Personally I would rather see the Democrat in office than Castle,he is no different and I will only vote for conservatives going forward and have stopped all contributions to anything related to the GOP. I am giving to personal candidates only.

I am still waiting for Redstate to weigh in on Michigan 15th and Dr. Robert Steele running in Dingells spot.

On Christine O’Donnell. From your previous comments, I was led to believe that you had become a part of the sellout group for the Ruling Class. It seemed like everything was going to hell in a hand basket especially with Murkoski in AK trying to run now as a “Liberterian”. These people cannot give up their power.

But I agree with your thoughts and I appreciate your writings. I do hope she can pull it off.

There is still a Republican Party Platform, and Christine O’Donnell measures up to it a lot better than Mike Castle does. As flawed as O’Donnell might be, a loss with her does not undermine the party platform as does a Castle candidacy and also serves to encourage true conservatives without the same flaws to throw their hats in the ring.

IMO, it’s hard to believe O’Donnell will have the same flaws once she is receiving a Congressional salary. OTOH, it’s quite reasonable to assume Castle will remain putrid.

Electable in the primary, Republican in the general. Hmmm, seems some people prefer holding their nose to doing something about the stench.

There is still a Republican Party Platform, and Christine O’Donnell measures up to it a lot better than Mike Castle does. As flawed as O’Donnell might be, a loss with her does not undermine the party platform as does a Castle candidacy and also serves to encourage true conservatives without the same flaws to throw their hats in the ring.

IMO, it’s hard to believe O’Donnell will have the same flaws once she is receiving a Congressional salary. OTOH, it’s quite reasonable to assume Castle will remain putrid.

Electable in the primary, Republican in the general. Hmmm, seems some people prefer holding their nose to doing something about the stench.

So unless a lot of money depends on the discussion, this is a philosophical exercise. The question is, is leadership of the Senate worth taking the blame for all they do. Essentially we’re talking about a 50–50 Senate. Castle, like Snowe, Collins and Brown, will stab the country in the back every time we really need their vote. We can probably add Fiorina to the list. These people are all aspiring members of the ruling class.

People’s perceptions come from the propaganda media. The Democrats ran the Senate the first 2 years under Bush and all of Congress the last 2 years. They populate and have run the permanent bureaucracy since FDR, but people still talk about “8 Republican years” as if the R’s actually ran anything. It’s going to take persistent, calculating, ruthlessness to wrest control of Washington from the Left. Can we find such people, and, if they succeed, make them give up the power and depart. Like rust, the forces of despotism never sleep. There can be no compromise with despotism. If Man will be free, he must engage in constant unending conflict. Our Republic, of, by and for the people, has sustained a series of losses–some devastating–over the last century. The very concept of self-government is now openly mocked and insulted among the ruling class.

If God has not forsaken this nation, November 2nd will set a record for turnout and turnover. But it is just the beginning. It did not take just two elections to bring us so low and it will take more than two to right the ship. Those who would join the contest for liberty must sign up for the duration, and the duration is a lifetime.

Your first post was construed as you are disendorsing O’Donnell. That position favored Castle. In the second post you are wishing O’Donnell’s success. That position is neither favorable for O’Donnell nor going to undo the damage the first post did inadvertently.

You are wishing O’Donnell’s success, and also saying her team is weak.

We are her team and therefore, please endorse her and rest will be taken care by your avid followers.

The theme I’ve seen in general and also used for banning certain commenters was “Conservative in the primary, Republican in the general.” I think much of the confusion stems from the fact that you seem to be blatantly breaking your own rule.

Is Castle so bad as Scozza-whaterver as to disown the Party altogether here? You yourself have said that “I’d rather see the Democrat elected is what got us Obama.”

I don’t think I’m the only one suffering from whiplash here, bacause you’re spot on everywhere else.

and with an upset win in the primary she’ll surge and close the gap. Remember how Murkowski polled way ahead of Miller? Supporting O’Donnell is not throwing the Senate seat away as some suggest.

…with RINOs and libruls.

Castle is going down. Christine is going to win just as Miller did.

And BOTH will win the General…

however your last post seemed to indicate that you would not vote for Castle in the general when he beats O’Donnell. I seem to remember talk of anacondas and tearing limbs…. Is that incorrect??

The mantra of Redstate has always been “Conservative in the primary, Republican in the general”.

Is that still true??
Or not??

Mary Beth’s comments apply as does her Reagan quote. What passes for conservative differs in the northeast and west coasts so be careful what you wish for. Those in the republican party that go against the conservative candidate are also those that may, as Spector did, not always follow the conservative line and do what’s best for the people. Same problem in Florida, where we may get Crist who is only out for Crist – once a republican conservative and now a democrat leaning liberal. Right!!!! Vote your conscience.

Mary Beth’s comments apply as does her Reagan quote. What passes for conservative differs in the northeast and west coasts so be careful what you wish for. Those in the republican party that go against the conservative candidate are also those that may, as Spector did, not always follow the conservative line and do what’s best for the people. Same problem in Florida, where we may get Crist who is only out for Crist – once a republican conservative and now a democrat leaning liberal. Right!!!! Vote your conscience.

Not tigers.

http://www.newturfers.com/mwf/attach/38/355838/BBCNEWSWorldLionMutilates42MidgetsinCambodianRing-Fight.htm

This is a critical point.

When Ruth Bader Ginsburg hangs up her robes, Judiciary Chairman Leahy, if left in place with 50 seats, passes out whatever Kagan or Sotomayor Obama sends up, with haste.

Chairman Sessions, if we win 51 seats, stops the wackos at the gate: careful and thorough background investigations completed before hearings are scheduled, if at all. He could force Obama to make a more qualified nomination, or even do like the Democrats did in ’91-’92 and hold up nearly all judicial nominations in the hope of winning the ’92 election.

All the other Chairmanships have strong influence on policy, too.

It matters. It matters a lot.

race for the 2nd day in a row. Gotta love it!