Archives for October 2007

This is going to be one of those posts where I get to vent in the beginning but more importantly, I’m going to ask you what we (GOP) needs to do to get back on track.

The Arizona Republic is reporting that the Arizona GOP is running well behind Democrats when it comes to raising money and registering voters.

According to the Matthew Benson’s article:

The state’s Republican Party has fallen far behind in fundraising, trailing Democrats by a more than 3-to-1 ratio so far this year.

Nearly the same ratio holds true for new voters signed up during the past year. Since October 2006, just one in every 10 new voters has registered with the GOP, a startling percentage in a state long dominated by the Republican Party.

Well, money and registered voters. Arizona Republicans have been lagging in that area, too. The party still has a 140,000-registered-voter edge, but that advantage has narrowed with the addition of nearly 31,000 Democrats in the past year. Growing fastest of all: independent voters. That voter bloc, now more than 750,000 strong, represents the key swing group in the upcoming election and those going forward. 

The most recent reports reveal that Democrats have raised $1.41 million dollars while Republicans have raised $441,000 year to date.

Now I know some of you are going to point all the blame at Randy Pullen because you’re still bitter about the GOP leadership election back in January, but that’s not fair. There are many factors for the status quo of the party including:

1. The war in Iraq
2. President Bush and go-along Republicans spending like crazy,
3. Republican scandals (Rick Renzi, Mark Foley, Jack Abramoff, Larry Craig, Randy “Duke” Cunningham, etc.),
4. And of course, a party divided on immigration

Yes, these are some of our biggest problems and a view of the glass half-empty. But because we’ve been so focused on the negative, its time we acknowledge we should focus on the positive.  

So I’m going to ask you to offer solutions. Before you start commenting wildly on this post, I’m going to ask that you not dogpile on state leadership. This is not about Randy Pullen and conversely, its not about sitting around singing “Kum Ba Yah.” It’s about the future: 12 months, five years and 25 years from now.

Here are a few of my suggested solutions:

1. The GOP has to clean its own house. We can no longer afford to look the other way on situations that point out hypocrisy and question our credibility. This is critical on issues fundamental to our party platform.
2. Put an end to out-of-control spending! It’s time to go on a beans and rice diet, pay down our debt and live within our budget. 
3. Give a vision to the American people of where this country will be in 5, 10 and 25 years. This should include strength against Islamo-facism, assimilating immigrants into American culture (and not the other way around) and demonstrating political courage and will on fixing the Social Security fiasco (let us get out of the system)

Now it’s your turn.