A local Virginia person gives the Top Ten reasons Eric Cantor got beat. LEARN from this. Heres the short version of each reason: 10) Lost Touch - I still remember the private meeting I had with his consultant, Ray Allen, five years ago when he told me, “Eric Cantor will never hold a town hall meeting. Over my dead body! You hear me?” Fatal mistake. 9) In Your Face - Cantor decided to ... help a PAC that was partially funded with labor unions and Soros money. The primary objective of Main Street PAC was to target the tea party for destruction. This really angered the tea party and fueled their discontent. Fatal mistake. 8) Unintended Consequences - Eric Cantor ... wanted to control the Republican Party of Virginia and he was willing to use any means necessary ... including slating tea party and conservatives out of the political process. ... It is really not smart to make enemies of your friends, and especially when you are in a primary. Fatal mistake. 7) Conservative Megaphone - A shout out to ... Laura Ingraham, Ann Coulter, Mark Levin, and Glenn Beck for getting the truth out to the public. ... people were shocked to read about the intentional and crooked politics that has been plaguing Virginia politics for years with Ray Allen. Cantor and Ray Allen discounted these voices on the internet and did not fully appreciate our influence and power. Fatal mistake. 6) Policy Matters - Eric Cantor thought that as long as he said the right things in slick mailers it was sufficient to gain the trust of voters. Washington DC politicians are having difficulty with the tea party ..., we look to see if you are actually fighting for our issues or just casting safe votes to pacify voters. ... Cantor was weak on spending, focused on corporate handouts to the fat cats, ... supported TARP, supported the Patriot Act, ... to name just a few. Cantor had bought into the idea that Washington could provide solutions for all problems. He forgot that Washington IS the problem and they actually prevent solutions. Fatal mistake. 5) Democrats Voted - Democrats voted in the primary yesterday. ... The irony is that ... [Cantor] spent $5 million telling Democrats why they should come out and vote for Dave Brat by sharing a lie that Brat was a “liberal college professor” who was best friends with Democrat Tim Kaine. He spent $5 million letting raising Brat’s name ID for us and letting the grassroots know they had an alternative. Fatal mistake. [me: The lesson is, If your enemy says X is the devil, vote for X. This is how we defeat money in politics.] 4) Vote Suppression - The irony is that the negative campaigning by Cantor backfired on him. Not only did he turn out Democrat votes with his ridiculous lies about Brat, but he suppressed the the enthusiasm of his own activists and volunteers in the more traditional wing of the Republican Party who were completely disgusted with Cantor’s all-negative campaign.... Fatal mistake. 3) Send Them a Message - This cannot be overstated. I heard this repeatedly at the polls yesterday. ... Middle class America is struggling to make a living and local businesses are fighting to survive. ... The most popular expression I heard yesterday, “We need to fire a shot across the bow of Eric Cantor and all those Washington elites.” 2) Strong Candidate - The conservatives and tea party put up a strong candidate. A lesson should be learned here by others. Brat has an impressive resume with his PhD in economics, his seminary degree from Princeton, and his work in ethics reform and education policy. He was an intelligent and articulate candidate that brought credibility to the movement. Brat ran a positive and upbeat campaign ... 1) Grassroots Domination - This is really the number one reason for victory last night. It cannot be emphasized enough the significance of the grassroots. Literally hundreds of individuals volunteered over the last five months to door knock and phone bank for Dave Brat. ... This was a ground game that was not put together overnight. This was an organization of volunteers that started four years and grew stronger with each subsequent campaign. Dave Brat benefited from a strong foundation that had meticulously laid over the last four years by some amazing individuals. [me: This is the answer to Why dont you people run a good candidate or have better or more TV commercials, etc.? - You don;t get movements or candidates by waiting for them to drop out of the sky. First, you organize and work hard, then you lose a few elections. Then you dont give up. Only then does the perfect candidate and perfect storm come along and WE WIN!] thebullelephant/top-ten-reasons-eric-cantor-lost/
Posted on: Wed, 11 Jun 2014 16:13:53 +0000