Yesterday brought good news for the GOP – Howell and company are standing firm against expanding Medicaid, Ed Gillespie raised more than $2 million in the first quarter and is competitive against incumbent Mark Warner, and Majority Leader Eric Cantor is remembering he represents a district.
But before we get carried away, there’s still work to do.
Most importantly, Warner has so far raised more than $11 million for this campaign and spent more than $12 million in his initial bid for the US Senate in 2008. That’s a lot of capital.
And, as Republicans should remember, Jim Gilmore was the nominee in 2008 and he barely won a divided convention where he defeated social conservative Bob Marshall by just one weighted delegate vote. This was also the convention that gave us failed party leader Jeff Frederick over John Hager.
In many ways, you can point to six years ago as the most recent low water mark for the GOP: we elected Barack Obama over John McCain, Mark Warner joined Jim Webb in the Senate, the GOP was a minority in both houses of Congress, and this was truly the beginning of the fracture of the GOP between the more conservative and moderates, only to be exacerbated during the McDonnell administration and lead-up to the 2013 campaign.
The hope is that 2014 will be very different, with conservative forces looking towards a rising tide lifting all boats vice being divisive.
Conservatives best hope right now is to have a strong candidate – in all our races – who can raise money and generate popular support. But even that might not heal the rift within the GOP. That will be up to the leaders – of all elements – within the Republican Party.
The real question, are leaders ready to lead – and is every conservative ready to pull the oars together?
J.R. Hoeft is the founder of BearingDrift.com.
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