Today's Headlines

This isn't a mandate for Republicans, it's a restraining order on Democrats.
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) November 5, 2014

AND THEN THERE'S THIS... 

“A Nation Of Sheep Will Beget A Government Of Wolves”

Regular readers of this blog may have noticed that blogging has been very light this week.  There’s a good reason for my absence.

I have been working at the local “Victory” office of North Carolina senatorial candidate Thom Tillis passing out bumper stickers, buttons and campaign yard signs, making phone calls and walking neighborhoods all in an effort to help him unseat incumbent Democrat Senator Kay Hagan.

North Carolina has 100 counties, of which 30 are blue.  I live in one of those blue counties.

On Wednesday, October 22nd, Thom made a campaign stop at Wingate University with Congressman Paul Ryan

Noting that circumstances are eerily similar to what the nation was facing in 1980—an energy crisis, rising gas prices, hostages being taken in the Middle East and Russia “going anywhere it wanted to go”—Tillis said that “Reagan created a vision of optimism and the emergence of America being great again.”

 

He said he is running because the students are owed the same opportunity to believe in America and the American Dream.

At one point Tillis referred to the debate on Tuesday night that Hagan did not participate in.  The “debate” featured an empty chair next to him.  Tillis said, “In fairness, I think it was her best performance yet.”

Early voting begins today in my state and I have been selected as a poll watcher. Judicial Watch discovered a scheme by Rev. Dr. William Barber to urge those attending the 71st Annual North Carolina NAACP Conference to “take unregistered voters to vote during the Early Voting period and to engage in get-out-the-vote activities on Election Day.”

NAACP’s leaders appear willing to risk the confusion and disenfranchisement of their own members in order to deceive a Court about common sense election integrity laws.

If the underhandedness of the North Carolina NAACP were not enough to cause alarm, The Winston-Salem Journal is reporting that 145 potential illegal voters appear on the State Board of Elections voting rolls.  Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) beneficiaries can obtain drivers licenses but are not legally permitted to vote.  SBOE believe more ineligible people may still remain on the voting rolls.

Jay DeLancy, Executive Director of the Voter Integrity Project wants to know how such a large number of non-U.S. citizens were ever registered to vote in the first place.”  Speaking to Watchdog. org DeLancy said, “There is clearly a system failure here and we need the Board of Elections and the DMV to help the Legislature and the public understand where the problem lies.”

My job as poll watcher will be to challenge any voter believed to be not qualified to vote in that precinct.  Judges will determine whether or not the challenge is valid.

Ten Buck Friday: Helping Harry Lose His Gavel

Graphic adapted from NCGOPVictory.org/TakeBackTheSenate

As of today, there are 18 days left before the nation goes to the ballot box.  The latest ABCNews/Washington Post poll shows the Democrat Party’s popularity is the weakest it has been in 30 years meaning they are “heading into the midterm election in trouble.”

Seventy-seven percent of Americans are worried about the economy’s future, and 57 percent say the country has been experiencing a long-term decline in living standards; a grim assessment for the party in power.

We’ve been hearing good news coming out of Iowa for Republican challenger Joni Ernst and The Denver Post is conceding polls are favoring Republican Cory Gardner at a key moment in the election season.

The DSCC has chosen to go dark in Kentucky realizing that Mitch McConnell is likely to hold his seat.  They’ve shifted their attention to Georgia’s open seat and are saturating Michelle Nunn’s campaign coffers.  They see a Nunn victory as a way to “stymie the growing odds of a Republican takeover of the U.S. Senate.”

North Carolina is my home state and I’ve been sweating out the contentious battle between incumbent Kay Hagan and challenger Thom Tillis.  More than $6.5 million has been spent against Hagan and nearly $19 million opposing Tillis according to the Sunlight Foundation.

Hagan’s minions have repeatedly charged that Tillis "cut $500 million" from the state's education budget.  That charge is false.

Other attack ads have claimed Tillis "raised taxes on 80 percent of North Carolinians."  This is also fabricated.

Hagan’s campaign claims Tillis "supports a plan that would end Medicare as we know it and raise premiums."  Nope.  Not true.

Attack ads repeatedly maintained her challenger "supports a plan that could end up costing seniors $1,700 more every year for prescription medicine."  This claim refers to Paul Ryan's Medicare plan, on which Tillis has not taken a position.

Joel Gehrke at National Review believes that cracks are beginning to appear in Harry Reid’s North Carolina firewall.  “North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan’s admission that she skipped a hearing about the Islamic State to attend a campaign fundraiser threatens to waste the $42 million that Democrats have spent in this race to protect her candidacy and their Senate majority.”

Tillis hammered her for that during their last debate. Local press has also focused on how the Hagan family has benefited from government spending programs that the senator supported, such as the 2009 stimulus.

Ten Senate races are rated toss-ups by Real Clear Politics, where the ratings are based on poll averages. The GOP must get to 51 seats to control a Senate majority.

Current polling of the races the Ten Buck Friday bloggers have been watching:

Arkansas:  Tom Cotton leads by 3.6 points

Colorado:  Cory Gardner leads by 3.0 points

Georgia:  David Perdue leads by 1.2 points

Iowa:  Joni Ernst leads by 2.0 points

Kansas:  Tie

Louisiana:  Bill Cassidy leads by 5.3 points

North Carolina:  Thom Tillis trails by 1.4 points

Each Friday between now and November 4th we are asking our readers to consider contributing $10 to the campaign of the candidate(s) we have highlighted that week.  Make sure to mark your contribution “Ten Buck Friday” so the candidate(s) will know the conservative blogosphere is with them in standing guard over liberty.  

If you are unable to make a contribution, you can help the candidate(s) tremendously by encouraging friends, family, neighbors and/or co-workers to vote.  Volunteer your valuable time.  Put up a campaign sign in your yard.  Make sure you go to the polls.  We cannot afford to sit this election out. 

Contribute to Tom Cotton (AR) here.

Contribute to Cory Gardner (CO) here.

Contribute to Joni Ernst (IA) here.

Contribute to Bill Cassidy (LA) here.

Contribute to Thom Tillis (NC) here.

Please consider visiting the other bloggers who are participating in this movement:

Adrienne's Corner, Diogenes' Middle Finger, Fisherville Mike, For God, Family & Country,Laughing Conservative, Left Coast Rebel, Mind Numbed Robot, PoliNation, Proof Positive,  Texas Conservative News, Theo Spark and Wyblog.

Ten Buck Friday For September 19, 2014

Jeffrey M. Jones writing for Gallup notes, “Americans now view the Republican Party as favorably as they view the Democratic Party. While the Democratic Party's rating has been steady, the GOP's rating has improved, restoring their image to what it was prior to the federal government shutdown in the fall of 2013.”  Ace distills it down further saying, “I suppose it's just that the Democrat Party is being discredited by events.”

With the Senate’s passage of a short-term spending bill on Thursday that avoids another government shutdown, Harry Reid’s attempt to provoke a shutdown has failed and this certainly benefits the GOP.

The latest Quinnipiac poll indicates that Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO) is trailing his Republican challenger Cory Gardner by 8 points.  This remarkable advantage seems to come on the heels of Udall’s outrageous claim that ISIL is not an imminent threat and news that Udall’s campaign reneged on a series of debates with Gardner.

Whereas last week Real Clear Politics reflected a 1.2 point lead by Bruce Braley (D-IA) over Joni Ernst, the very same Quinnipiac poll shows Ernst pulling ahead and now leads Braley 50% to 44%.  The RCP average has the two in a dead heat. 

The North Carolina race is really troubling to me.  I’m not certain that a visit by NJ Governor Chris Christie to stump for GOP challenger Thom Tillis has helped his cause.

The Senate Majority PAC, a group connected to Sen. Harry Reid and heavily funded by billionaires and labor unions, has been the biggest-spending Super PAC of the 2014 midterm contests. The Center for Responsive Politics database shows that in addition to Reid’s aforementioned Super PAC, another group called Patriot Majority has flooded Hagan’s campaign with $36 million for ad buys and voter outreach.

North Carolinians have been receiving mailers from Concerned Veterans for America reminding voters of her broken promises to improve the Department of Veterans Affairs.  CEO Pete Hegseth said, “Based on her own words, Senator Hagan was sent to Washington to improve care for North Carolina’s veterans. But since 2008, North Carolina’s VA facilities have deteriorated to become some of the worst in the country. Plain and simple, Senator Hagan knew that delays were taking place and only became interested in fixing the VA when it became politically expedient. How can North Carolina Veterans trust that this time will be any different?”

The group published an ad that highlights her saying, “We have got to do a better job of supporting our veterans,” and urged the people of North Carolina to call and tell her to fix the VA.

Jim Geraghty noted as recently as September 12th that it is disconcerting that Tillis is having trouble gaining traction against Hagan in a state that Mitt Romney won.

This week I’d like to ask my readers to consider contributing $10 to Thom Tillis for this week’s Ten Buck Friday.  Make sure to mark your contribution “Ten Buck Friday” so the candidate will know the conservative blogosphere is with him in standing guard over liberty.

You can contribute to Thom Tillis here.

Please consider visiting the other bloggers who are participating in this movement:  Adrienne's Corner, Diogenes' Middle Finger, Fisherville Mike, For God, Family & Country,  Laughing Conservative, Left Coast Rebel, Mind Numbed Robot, PoliNation, Proof Positive, Texas Conservative News, Theo Spark and Wyblog.