Well before the Senate primary, (Jim)Ogonowski won positive publicity after airing folksy cable television ads featuring him traveling around Massachusetts asking people if they’ve seen Kerry. And he had support from top officials in Washington: Former Gov. Mitt Romney recently held a $1,000-per-plate fundraiser on his behalf.
Ogonowski also had a compelling story to tell as the brother of the pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, the first plane to hit the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
But he failed the most basic test of a candidate: He did not qualify for the primary ballot after coming 30 valid signatures short of the 10,000 signatures necessary. Ogonowski later decided against filing a legal challenge or mounting a write-in campaign and withdrew from the race.
As for Montana, Republicans are trying to keep a stiff upper lip about their predicament.
"The U.S. Senate race is pretty low down on our priority list for the Republican Party. [Kelleher’s] philosophy just doesn’t really line up well with the Republican Party platform in Montana," Montana Republican Party Chairman Erik Iverson said matter-of-factly. "We’re just not going to dedicate time and resources to the Senate race."
The state, under normal circumstances, would present a decent opportunity for Republicans. It gave 59 percent of the vote in 2004 to President Bush and hasn’t voted Democratic at the presidential level since 1992.
Montana Republicans can take some solace in the fact that they at least have a candidate. The Arkansas GOP isn’t so fortunate. There, in yet another state that might have been competitive, freshman Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor has been resting easy after Republicans failed to nominate any candidate at all.
At yesterday's Christian Science Monitor forum, the same venue where he upgraded the GOP's goal to a potential three-seat loss, NRSC chairman John Ensign was asked point-blank if the party was giving up on the open seats they currently hold in Virginia and New Mexico, where the Democratic nominees are way ahead of the Republicans in current polling.
Ensign said bluntly: "You don't waste money on races that don't need it or you can't win."
While I agree with his comment, it's still interesting that Virginia is being written off, and that has implications doesn't it, for the Presidential election?
Wouldn't it be better for McCain for the Republicans to strongly contest Virginia? I guess that when the ship is sinking..it's every Bushbot for himself.
John McCain is in real trouble. All of the down-tickets in the November elections are so bad for Republicans that there is no reason for them to go out and vote. The congressional races fare no better for Republicans, where Democrats are prepped to gain as many seats as they wrested away from the Republicans in 2006.
It's not all John Ensign's fault..but he's just such an ignorant dolt...we might as well give him all the credit for the failures to come!
Now it's time for Democrats to take away Ensign's seat in 2012.
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