"As he seeks a third term in the U.S. Senate, Lamar Alexander is doing something few other incumbent Republicans have tried recently: Instead of running scared of the tea party, he's running hard against it," the Washington Post reports.
"Independent analysts and strategists in both parties think Alexander has a good chance of winning his primary against a low-profile state representative. He is far ahead in early polling, but Alexander's willingness to confront the tea party makes it one of the most important bellwether races in the country."
13 comments:
No, No, and probably not. A incumbent republican running against the tea party would most definetly lose him votes and acceptance, no matter what a republicans policies are, and whether he/she is a RHINO or not, a large number of tea party members and supporters are going to give him their vote, instead of an opposing liberal. In turn, putting a hand to your supporters face, is not going to be a so called "good campaign strategy". This may build his right wing friends list, but the drastic loss of support from the left would leave him for dead, in a presidential situation it would greatly benefit the democrats, having an republican candidate that is distrusting his supporters would give the right an increasingly large change to win an election.
It would not be a good idea for an incumbent republican to run against the tea party for many reasons. First, the tea party is a group of strong believing republicans. A republican to run against its supporters would probably not be considered a republican anymore because strong republicans agree with the tea party. Secondly, the incumbent republican would lose many votes due to the fact that he/she disagrees with a group that strongly supports republican candidates. Again, this would not be a very intelligent strategy for an incumbent republican to run against the tea party.
No, it would not because it would split the votes, and hurt the republican party. It would kind of seem like he/she is turning on his/her own party, increasing distrust in the party. It would be pointless to even run against the tea party because the tea party supporters are more likely to vote for a republican candidate, even if different, rather than a democratic candidate.
No this is not a good idea because it will help the Democrat party gain more force. A Republican running against his or her supporters will not be supported by their own followers after that. Also this help the Democrat party gain momentum by splitting the vote. I think that he should run hard against the Democrats because they are the main enemy for him in this election.
It may not be the best campaign strategy, but it is one that I commend. If you don't have the same values as the tea party but you don't consider yourself democratic then the only options you have is to run against the tea party or not run at all. And if you believe that you will either win or that you have ideals that many others share then you are going to run. Yes it may give the democratic party the edge, but at least you are getting your opinions out there for others to hear. If this incumbent republican was going to run for office, he/she would most likely have a better chance of getting more votes if he/she ran as an independent rather than for the Republican party.
No, it would not be the best strategy to run against the tea party. The Republican party going against the tea party may hurt their chances in campaigning because many people may be for it. This would make the voting difficult and possibly lead to more people to vote for the Democrats which is not a good strategy for the Republicans.
I do not believe it is a good campaign strategey for an incumbent Republican to run against the tea party. We are living in very liberal times right now, so if this Republican wants to receive the conservative vote, it would be best for him to run with the tea party. A lot of people would like to see conservative changes, and by running against the tea party (which is huge in number), it would not be a wise strategy in my opinion.
I do not think that an incumbent Republican running against the tea party would be a good idea. He would lose many of the conservative votes. This also wouldn't be good for the Republican party as a whole because if this incumbent loses votes, then the Democrates are gaining votes toward their party. Which will make Republicans very angry. Running against the tea party would not be a smart idea for a Republican to do.
It depends on which voters the Republican is trying to harness. One common opinion is that the tea party is basically the same thing as the Republican party. In a recent Pew pole, 43 percent of people polled saw the Republican party as too conservative,and 46 percent saw the Democratic Party as too liberal. Both parties have quantities of extremism among them, even though the Democrats don't have a particular labeled movement such as the tea party. If the Republican's goal is to achieve high voting percentages from moderates of both parties, he or she could be successful with the tactic of positioning against the tea party. If the Republican wishes to have a large Republican voting outcome, it would probably be wise to aim for support from more conservative Republicans and tea party activists as well as moderate Republicans.
"High risk can lead to high reward" is a remark we all know well. But in this instance, I think it is unwise to run against the tea party. As more republicans are moving toward the conservative ideals of the tea party, traditional republicans must cater and appeal to this audience to gain their votes. But, by running hard against the tea party and, by association, its ideals, the incumbent is showing the conservative voters that he does not agree with their ideology and ideas. This obviously seems unappealing to them, therefore decreasing his support and popularity.
I do not think it would be a good idea for an incumbent republican to run against the tea party. The tea party members are supporters of the republican party. Therefore, if the republican were to run against the tea party they would most definitely lose votes. This would not be a good example of a good campaign strategy. This would not be a smart move for an incumbent Republicans at all because they are more than likely not going to get re elected because the tea party is the republican party's biggest supporter. Therefore, I do not think that this is a good campaign strategy.
The Tea party has gained massive support among conservatives and those very pro small government. Many republicans also see the Tea Party movement as a patriotic and dividing force in the party. Their persistence in creating a much more Reagan Conservative party is also supported by many in the republican to moderate side of the isle. An incumbent running against a group with this much support would hurt his chances of re-election because he will be seen as too 'left-wing.'
I think that it depends on where the republican is in determining if it is good to run against the tea party. In a very conservative districts, there is probably going to be a large amount of support for very conservative, small government policies. This benefits tea party candidates. In liberal areas; however, a Republican must run in an unfavorable general election climate, so running against the tea party could be beneficial to make the candidate seem more moderate.
Post a Comment