Column: Election 2010
Western Primary Candidates Have a Wild Night; Labrador Wins In Upset
Labrador will face Democratic incumbent Walt Minnick in November. Expect a fierce campaign.By Jill Kuraitis, 5-26-10
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The money horse in Idaho’s 1st Congressional District Republican primary, Vaughn Ward, needed pickup men in the ring when he lost to state representative Raul Labrador on Tuesday.
Ward had more money, more connections, and a head start on latecomer Labrador, but his suicide grip on the reins – a series of blunders and some obvious plagiarism – threw him off.
It was an undignified landing. After the polls closed, Jay Leno sent in the clowns by showing side-by-side video of Ward and President Obama delivering, it seems, the same speech. Only Obama delivered it in 2004 at the Democratic National Convention. MSNBC has more:
Anyhow, it hadn’t been shaping up to be a good day for Ward when a national publication headlined, “Vaughn Ward: Worst Candidate Ever?”
With Labrador’s victory - a whopping 47.6 percent over Ward’s 38.9 – Idaho voters rejected some clownish mistakes that were too obvious to be ignored. Ward campaigned on his record as a veteran and tried to claim the integrity prize because of it, but then blew his credibility when he said federal spending and bailouts should be cut at the same time his wife was supporting them on Fannie Mae – which got millions in bailout cash. He also said Puerto Rico was a country and then denied that’s what he meant.
Ward tangled with Sen. Mike Crapo’s office over an implied endorsement that Crapo did not intend to give, didn’t vote in the 2008 election even though he campaigned for McCain, had interned for a Democratic state representative – horrors - and made flip-floppy position statements about the 17th amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Meanwhile, immigration attorney Labrador ran a solid low-budget campaign free of rope tricks. He seemed to benefit from both Ward’s problems and his own solid and authentic grasp of state and national issues. It would be a mistake to say that Labrador’s victory was only about Ward, but it was a big factor.
Labrador will face Democratic incumbent congressman Walt Minnick in November. Expect a fierce campaign. Both men are intelligent, principled, and stubborn as mules. There’s a reason you don’t seem many mules in the rodeo ring: they refuse to perform on cue.
The 2010 election in Idaho will have some sharp spurs.
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Comments
The hopey-changey speech pretty much was the icing on the cake!
One can't help but wonder who it was doing the research and orchestrating the "revelations." But I s'pose that should be expected when you're running for a national office.
It looked bad for the Tea Party folks (to whom I am totally sympathetic!) when their allegiance seemed divided, with the locals behind Mr. Labrador, while TeaParty Supergirl Sarah sidled up to Mr. Ward.
Frankly, it's a little scary that Mr. Ward got as many votes as he did! But there's not a "cluelessness test" you have to take before voting, I s'pose.
Minnick's biggest liability might be that there seem to be plenty of "progressive" type democrats who are mad at him for being a "DINO." They wanted somebody more in the mold of Pelosi, Reid, and Obama. But perhaps if he's running against a guy as conservative as Labrador, they'll hold their noses and give Minnick the nod.
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