Joining, dying, and the Cuccinelli nudge

The tea partiers, or at least some of them, are looking for The One to challenge George Allen for the Republican nomination. Over the weekend, while the Republican faithful were grazing at the Homestead, tea party groups gathered together down the road a piece to try to decide on who The One should be.

The pro-E.W. Jackson faction has its report on the event here. One of the writer’s conclusions points to the central problem the patriot groups have confronted since their first foray into the larger political realm in 2010:

Overall not many minds were changed and the chances of a candidate dropping out are very slim.

Perhaps recognizing this (via Sara), the pro-Radtke camp has issued a challenge to those who may still be undecided, or are weakly committed to another Allen challenger:

…this is a call to fellow Tea Party Patriots. The Examiner quoted Kyle Kondik in warning, ”unless the Tea Party mobilizes around a single candidate, they’re likely to split votes and thwart any chance of a real threat to Allen.” As much as I would rather not admit it, the simple fact of the matter is – they’re right. So far, we’ve meant well in trying to keep a more open mind than the machine we blame for failed fiscal policy and government overreach. But that open-mindedness is costing one of our own candidates for U.S. Senate valuable support at a critical juncture.

My call to you tonight is simply this: join or die. The courtship is over. It’s time to get hitched, and there’s one candidate for U.S. Senate we know for sure has supported us from the very beginning – Jamie Radtke.

Whether such an appeal is successful remains to be seen. However, there can be no doubt that as long as the patriot groups remain divided in their support, Mr. Allen remains the favorite for the nomination.

That could change — recall that as late as July, 2006, George Allen wasn’t just going to beat Jim Webb, he was going to become The One for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination. Anything can happen to the GOP frontrunner between now and the primary debates next spring (not to mention before, during and after each debate). Even today’s star chamber affair between Allen and Tim Kaine could shake-up the GOP race.

But whatever the change is it must come soon if any of the Allen alternatives are going to have a legitimate shot at winning the nomination. The ongoing scrums between the patriot groups make for great inside baseball reading, but so far they have changed nothing.

One thing that could help their cause, though, is if Ken Cuccinelli — famously wavering over which presidential candidate to endorse — decides, like Bill Bolling and Bob McDonnell, to put his name behind one of the Senate candidates. He’s already played behind the scenes at getting candidates into the contest against Allen, but has otherwise remained silent.

If he gets off the fence — joins or dies, if you will — he could provide the unifying nudge the anti-Allen forces need to coalesce behind a single candidate.

Contribute for Conservatism!

About the author

Norman Leahy

Norm Leahy has written about Virginia and national politics online since 2002, beginning with One Man's Trash (OMT), and continuing through Bacon's Rebellion (both the blog and the e-zine), Sic Semper Tyrannis, NBC12's Decision Virginia, Richmond.com and Tertium Quids. He is the chief blogger at "The Score" and a producer of "The Score" radio show as well as being a Washington Examiner contributor.