When I served on State Central in 2012 I felt conventions served us (the Republican Party) best at that time and I voted for a convention for the 2013 gubernatorial election. I was moved by the arguments that we could make money, prevent the tax payers from picking up the tab, and keep democrats out of the election allowing us have better control over the outcome. We had a convention in 2013 and then I watched most of my pro-convention colleagues take a vacation until Election Day. Many of these friends even rejected Ken Cuccinelli and Mark Obenshain because their message became “too broad” as they tried to appeal to the general public and so they worked at the bottom of the ticket for E.W. Jackson and we saw how that worked out. I watched in horror as all momentum dropped after the convention and my pro-convention friends sat back and asked “why isn’t the other side (primary) helping us win the election? Where is all the money? Why do our neighbors not know who the candidates are? It was an embarrassment to us all as a Party. Our victory centers were silent across the state until the last two days of the election and then we started pointing fingers which didn’t get us anywhere. Now we are hours from watching our SCC vote to select a method that will prevent military, elderly, handicapped, families, many minorities, non-english speaking voters, and those less fortunate from participating in the nomination of our Presidential nominee. Friends selecting a convention in 2016 is nothing but short-sighted and it will most likely cost us the election.
I am in favor of having the option to choose different nomination methods (Conventions, Primary, Fire-House Primary, Caucus) like many of my friends, but we most choose a method that helps us with the General Election. A great candidate can win in either method and those pushing for one method to help their candidate are admitting that their choice candidate wouldn’t win in an open primary. If this was a Congressional race or for any other lower office, perhaps a convention would work. However for Governor, Senator or President we would be foolish to select a method that prevents hundreds of thousands from participating.
Please encourage your SCC members to vote for a primary.
