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Jim Gilmore won.
We’ve got a tough fight ahead of us to beat Mark Warner and Jim is going to need all the help we can give him.
Jeff Frederick has a lot of people excited about his potential to clean house at the RPV and set us up for a winning future.
I’m tired but Joe at NovaTownhall has the inside scoop up and some wit and wisdom along with it.
10 Responses to “Republican State Convention”
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on VPOD #45: Del. Jeff Frederick - Jan. 5, 2009 on Curious in NOVA
on “Stored Value” Credit Cards: How $100mil in Foreign Money Bought Barack Obama
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I’m really glad that Frederick won. I hope that he does indeed clean house, the RPV has been dominated by the Neo-Con wing of the party for long enough. That’s the whole reason I got involved in the first place, was to take the party back for real Taft-Goldwater-Paul type Republicans. Woot.
The difference between Gilmore and Marshall was profound. If not for weighted voting, Marshall would be the nominee. He had the popular delegate vote.
If the convention represented a microcosm of the campaign season, we’re in trouble. Gilmore’s campaign is, to be polite, rather boring. (Yes, I know. We have to rally behind the party’s candidate. The problem is, you can’t build a party without a candidate. A candidate provides the excitement. )
Marshall’s supporters were far more excited than Gilmore and I overheard a Gilmore crowd trying to figure out why.
If Webb is selected for VP, then Marshall may have another chance.
John Hager deserves our sincere gratitude for his decades long support of Republicans and his service to Virginia in both Republican and Democratic administrations.
The election of Jeff Frederick by such a landslide (turned to acclamation on the motion by John Hager) shows that the Republican Party members are eager to move forward and distance the Virginia GOP from the Bush years.
It will take more than a new Chairman. We can’t sit at home and take a, “Let Jeff do it” attitude. We all must recruit new members, citizens who love LIBERTY and want a return to Constitution based government, and rebuild our local precinct organizations from the ground, upwards.
As this Convention passes into history, my lasting memory will be how the current RPVA staff intentionally worked against Jeff Frederick and Bob Marshall, when they should have been held to a much higher standard of impartiality and professionalism. I will not forget how, when I visited the Obenshain Center in Richmond to help with Convention preparations that I found no Marshall or Frederick materials being included in the bags to be given to delegates who paid the $35 fee, even though materials from their opponents were being placed in the bags. When I went to use the Men’s room, I found the only Jeff Frederick sign in the building, on the toilet.
Every one of the outgoing RPVA staff needs to resign. Jeff Frederick needs to be sure that he will have a professional staff that will treat all competitors for nominations with the same courtesy and fairness.
Good thoughts, all. JTB, you are absolutely right about the intense institutional opposition faced by Marshall (& Frederick). And, we are going to need to work to prepare for a big win in 09.
Weighted totals are a very fair system. You derive the weighting from how unit perform in getting out their voters for Republican Candidates.
Our (Augusta) County has a convention style nominating process so that you have to win 4 of the seven magisterial districts to win the chairmanship. I am not going to get into that meeting.. but my point is that if one district just happened to bring out enough people (maybe due to a particular issue) they would still only be able to win that district.
Therefore, it is like an electoral college system that favors the entire county first, if that makes sense. Not just one district bringing out the most people to run the show.
The weighting system theory is the same way, and it makes a candidate have to win state wide support win.
Heck if all the population is in one spot, say New York, will they be able to bring more people to a mass meeting than say wyoming, idaho, and Rhode Island combined? Every time.
Now that is a national example, but the same could be said for Richmond vs. Page, Botetout, and the city of Galax. This forces a candidate to not ignore other parts of the state, just because they can bring out the most people.
It is very fair, and a good way to balance the entire party on issues.
All I’ll say is this. If Marshall is so great, how can he lose the same convention that Jeff Frederick won by a superlandslide?
To put Jeff’s youth and relative inexperience into perspective, consider that he was only five years old when Ronald Regan was first elected President. I find it ironic, and a bit insulting, that Jeff quotes Ronald Regan when preaching to the so-called old guard about the ills of the modern Republican Party. Hopefully Jeff will muster the maturity needed to reach out and forge political partnerships with a wide coalition of conservative voters.
I agree with Spank.
There is a particular formula that weights localties & districts based on the number of Republican coters in the last election that decides the weights.
For example, my Norfolk City controlled 157 votes. Of the 22 delegates I had certified, 14 of us were there (which is batting pretty good based on number of attendees of average unit).
So, for 157 votes each of my Norfolk Party delegates who attended are worth roughly 13 votes I think.
All of the 2nd District votes were counted under dual control and witnesses from both Marshall and Gilmore campaigns as well as Hager and Frederick representatives, and the 2nd Dist Chairman. I would not count the votes from my unit without witnessees and dual control, and neither would VA Beach and the Eastern Shore and Hampton units.
NotMorganGriffith,
Say what you want about Jeff Frederick, but at least he’d spell Reagan’s name right.
Pam, I’m not suggesting that weighted voting be thrown out as a process, but that folks who limit their memberships are watched more closely. One person told me if he could vote for an entire city, he would do that, and the voting strength in his area reflected his attitude. Bringing people into the process weakens his impact, so he discourages membership and is giving newcomers and activists with whom he disagrees reason to leave his committee. Result: his committee’s voting strength will increase.