There have been two underdog candidate I have been keeping my on. Both Democrats running in very red states. The first is Rick Weiland (D. SD) who is running for Senator Tim Johnson's (D. SD) seat. The other is businessman Jay Stamper (D. SC) who is hoping to unseat Senator Lindsey Graham (R. SC). What caught my eye about Stamper's campaign where his remarks about Edward Snowden a little while back:
http://www.fitsnews.com/...
When I read about Edward Snowden’s disclosure of the NSA’s PRISM surveillance program, I had two immediate reactions: this guy looks like my cousin Brendan and this guy is a hero.
At great personal risk, Mr. Snowden broke the law in order to expose a much larger criminal enterprise: The Defense Department’s outrageous and unconstitutional mass-monitoring of domestic civilian communications. To my mind, his willingness to be branded a criminal and live as a fugitive makes his actions all the more heroic. And the irony that a champion of civil liberties was forced to seek refuge in the shadow of totalitarian China is more damning and embarrassing to us than to him.
So, as the news broke, I impulsively reached for my iPhone to tweet my support. Then I hesitated. Why take sides on such a divisive issue? Why not wait and see what happens? It’s not as if the media were beating down my door for a comment. There’s no hurry. And a tweet is forever. But then I was caught by surprise by a flash of embarrassment at my own lack of courage.
So, I tweeted:
- Jay Stamper, FITS News, 6/13/13
I have to say I was pretty impressed hearing a Democrat, especially in South Carolina, call Edward Snowden a hero. I also thought it was a very smart move on his behalf because the Libertarian section of the Tea Party movement despise Graham for his support for domestic surveillance:
http://www.fitsnews.com/...
In recent weeks the true extent of the federal government’s massive domestic spying initiative has been exposed – both in terms of the program’s size and scope as well as its practical application. In the process we’ve learned that everything former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden told us about the program is true – and everything the federal government told us in responding to Snowden’s revelations is false.
Still, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham – one of the arch-defenders of this unconstitutional invasion of our liberty – is standing by the NSA.
“The NSA program is proving it’s worth yet again,” Graham told CNN, referring to recent reports of imminent “terror attacks” against America which led to the closing of nearly twenty U.S. Embassies. - FITS News, 8/6/13
Now I haven't heard from Stamper's campaign in a while until this news story broke today:
http://www.fitsnews.com/...
Today, Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Jay Stamper criticized Senator Lindsey Graham for misleading the American people when he said that the National Security Agency’s surveillance of U.S. citizens is “limited to tracking people who are suspected to be terrorists.”
Reuters reported yesterday that the Drug Enforcement Agency’s Special Operations Division is “funneling information from intelligence intercepts, wiretaps, informants and a massive database of telephone records to authorities across the nation to help them launch criminal investigations of Americans.”
The DEA has used information obtained from NSA intercepts to start criminal investigations into U.S. citizens, and agents have systematically covered up the practice by fabricating evidence, according to Reuters. A DEA spokesman told Reuters that members of Congress “have been briefed over the years about SOD programs and successes,” including in a 2011 letter written to the Senate. - FITS News, 8/6/13
And today I received an e-mail from Stamper's campaign with this statement from Stamper:
The report that the DEA has used NSA intercepts to criminally prosecute U.S. citizens proves false the claim by Senator Graham that surveillance of U.S. citizens is confined to individuals suspected to be terrorists, and it raises serious questions about Senator Graham’s credibility as well as his commitment to upholding the Constitution and protecting the fundamental rights of South Carolinians.
It is imperative that Congress investigate how widely NSA shares surveillance on U.S. citizens with domestic law enforcement and other government agencies. Congress must make these findings public, so that we as a country can accurately debate the merits of the government’s dragnet approach to surveillance.
Congress has a responsibility to protect Americans from harm and preserve our rights. If elected, I will put forth legislation to regulate the NSA’s data collection practices in order to ensure that the agency does not continue to operate in direct violation of the Constitution. - Jay Stamper (D. SC), U.S. Senate Candidate
Well said. Now I think it's too early to say what's going to happen in this race. Graham received two Tea Party challengers this week. First there's Nancy Mace (R. SC):
http://www.allvoices.com/...
Nancy Mace, who in 1999 became the first female graduate of South Carolina’s world-renowned military college The Citadel, announced Saturday that she will challenge two-term incumbent Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham in the 2014 GOP primary. According to USA Today, Mace has “strong ties” to the tea party.
In announcing her campaign at a GOP breakfast in Goose Creek, S.C., Mace stated that "Washington thinks it knows better than the people. The federal government has worked its way into nearly every corner of our lives, trying to solve every problem for us. And yet, we are still not better off for it,” according to thehill.com.
In response to Graham’s support of NSA monitoring of US citizens, Mace wrote “Lindsey Graham’s World,” a scathing criticism published June 7, on the conservative blog redstate.com:
In Senator Graham’s world, arming al-Qaeda in Syria is a good idea.
In Senator Graham’s world, your rights as an American citizen are granted by the ruling political class and not by our Creator.
In Senator Graham’s world, government should always be trusted but never the American citizen.
In Senator Graham’s world, the Constitution doesn’t exist.
In Senator Graham’s world, the entire Bill of Rights is negotiable.
In Senator Graham’s world, our constitutional rights seem constantly up for debate.
In Senator Graham’s world, he says we’re fighting for freedom but is the first to surrender all of them.
In Senator Graham’s world, America is going broke, and taxing hard working Americans while spending more money the country simply does not have.
In Senator Graham’s world, I am concerned about the future of our country.
Maybe Senator Graham has been living in a world of his own for too long. - All Voices, 8/3/13
And this guy is gearing up to challenge Graham:
http://abcnews.go.com/...
He’s not officially in yet, but South Carolina state Sen. Lee Bright looks like he will be Sen. Lindsey Graham’s next Republican challenger.
The Republican from Spartanburg has not announced, but he is up with a new website declaring his intention to run for Senate.
“As a South Carolina state senator, Lee Bright has earned the reputation for being the most conservative leader in the legislature,” the post reads. “His impeccable voting record reveals a strong belief in Second Amendment freedoms, pro-life values, the advancement of civil liberties and fiscal responsibility. It’s time to take this proven track record to the U.S. Senate so South Carolina can lead the charge against the Washington establishment.” - ABC News, 8/6/13
Graham is also facing businessman Richard Cash (R. SC) in the primary. This primary is looking pretty similar to the South Dakota Republican Primary where you have an establishment neo-con Republican facing off against more conservative challengers. Graham like Senate candidate Mike Rounds (R. SD), has a big war chest but is despised by right wing groups like the Senate Conservative Fund and the Club For Growth and right now has a good standing with Republican voters:
http://atr.rollcall.com/...
Republican operatives said Graham’s chances for re-election remain good as long as Nancy Mace, former congressional candidate Richard Cash and state Sen. Lee Bright, who’s reportedly set to enter the race soon, duke it out in an effort to finish second. If Graham is held under 50 percent, the top two will advance to a runoff.
“If the groups like FreedomWorks, Club for Growth and Americans for Prosperity coalesce around someone like Nancy, we’ve seen some pretty big incumbents get beaten, and I don’t think that’s outside of the realm of possibility,” said Dan Tripp, a consultant and former state legislator.
The second-term senator has faced a primary challenger amid conservative criticism before, dispensing of one in 2008 by taking two-thirds of the vote.
This cycle, Graham set a new personal fundraising record in the second quarter, raising $1.4 million for the first time ever over a three-month period. He ended June with $6.3 million in the bank, already enough to saturate the state’s media markets in the months leading up to the June primary.
One unaffiliated GOP operative in the state said the anti-incumbent vote that almost any challenger starts out with in a statewide race in South Carolina is about one-third of the electorate.
“The problem for any opponent taking on an incumbent … is getting from 35 percent to 50 percent plus one,” the operative said. “That’s where it gets real expensive.” - Roll Call, 8/5/13
But some groups are anticipating a runoff in the primary:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/...
Matt Kibbe, president and CEO of FreedomWorks, says South Carolina’s runoff system, requiring that a candidate pull more than 50 percent of the vote to advance without one, will play to their advantage.
“The more time voters have to learn about Graham’s big-government record, the more vulnerable he becomes, similar to the way the Ted Cruz race in Texas played out,” Kibbe said. - Daily Beast, 8/5/13
Graham hasn't really reached out to the Tea Party like Senators John Cornyn (R. TX) or Lamar Alexander (R. TN) have. In fact, he angered them royally when he moved ahead with immigration reform as a member of the Gang of 8 and even though he voted against the background checks bill he still voted for the cloture for the vote to happen. But he might be thinking he doesn't really need to suck up to the Tea Party like Cornyn and Alexander have. He's been trying to associate himself with a more beloved Republican icon:
http://www.fitsnews.com/...
“I’m going to keep being a social and fiscal conservative that focuses on our national security, takes care of interests at home, like the Port of Charleston, working with my state officials, and be a conservative like Ronald Reagan who will sit down with a Tip O’Neill to solve Americans’ problems,” Graham told Candy Crowley, CNN’s chief political correspondent.
Wow …
Graham’s statement – which is pretty astounding considering his left-of-center voting record – came in response to comments made by Charleston businesswoman Nancy Mace, the first woman to graduate from The Citadel military college. Mace is running against Graham in the 2014 GOP primary for the U.S. Senate seat he has held since 2003.
“I grew up during the Reagan years,” Mace said in announcing her candidacy. “I believe our fortieth president understood what being an American was all about. He was proud, resolute, and he was an eternal optimist. Our friends knew he would be steadfast and our enemies respected him. President Reagan helped regain our national pride, but he also left us with a powerful warning. He said, ’Freedom is never more than a generation away from extinction.’ He said ‘we must fight for it, protect it, and defend it.’ I think those words ring true now more than ever.”
Those words were a direct shot at Graham – who has embraced the federal government’s massive domestic spying initiative. - FITS News, 8/5/13
Plus Graham can always scare Republican voters into supporting him:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," Graham called the Sunday closure of U.S. embassies in several countries "scary" and said he had been briefed by the vice president on the issue. Embassies will be closed for one day due to an unspecified al Qaeda threat, CBS News reported.
Graham said the budget cuts enacted in March are hurting America and could do further damage if they're not reversed.
“Al Qaeda’s on the rise in this part of the world, and this NSA program has proven its worth yet again. But we need to reevaluate where we’re at in light of these threats. Sequestration has to be fixed," Graham said. - Huffington Post, 8/4/13
And Graham has this going for him and his buddy Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R. KY):
http://www.theguardian.com/...
McConnell sported a +50pt net approval rating among Republicans in a late May Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey (pdf). Against a generic "more conservative" challenger, McConnell led by 14pt in April. The generic should produce the best results for a possible challenger considering most named opponents are simply unknown at this point. Against named challengers including Matt Bevin, McConnell has led by nearly 40pt.
Graham is in somewhat worse shape with a +27pt net approval rating among Republicans in a April Winthrop poll; 77% of South Carolina Republicans supported his "path to citizenship" proposal. He led a generic "more conservative" challenger by 11pt in December, and any possible named challengers by at least 28pt per PPP.
Of course, primary challengers have been able to chip away successfully at such leads before. Murkowski had sky-high approvals with Republicans in 2010 before losing to Joe Miller. Arlen Specter saw his lead disappear before our very eyes against Joe Sestak, despite initially strong numbers.
What's the difference in this circumstance? The fact is that the people who came to close to losing in prior years were either far more moderate than McConnell or Graham, or they had switched parties. - The Guardian, 8/6/13
Of course the Tea Party voters would need to get behind one challenger and it looks like they will have three choices to pick from. Same thing in South Dakota where Rounds has two conservative challengers and a possible third one as well. Both these primaries could very well resemble the 2012 GOP Wisconsin Senate Primary where former Governor Tommy Thompson (R. WI) narrowly won his party's nominee because Tea Party groups like FreedomWorks and the Club For Growth had two dogs in this race. Thompson won his party's nominee but was broke after the primary and his campaign in the general was a disaster. Guys like Graham and Rounds are trying to learn from that experience hence why they need big war chests to fend off primary challengers. So groups like FreedomWorks need to pick their candidate wisely. But there's always a chance that Stamper could benefit from a nasty primary:
http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/...
There's another name on that Senate 2014 page you may not be familiar with: Jay Stamper, the intrepid and fearless Democrat running in South Carolina against Lindsey Graham. I've had the same feedback: "a Democrat can't win in South Carolina" and "no one ever heard of Stamper." A Democrat hasn't won statewide in South Carolina in some time-- but that's the past. (Obama, by the way, scored 44% there last year, better than he did in Montana, both Dakotas, Arkansas, West Virginia and Alaska, all of which have Democratic senators.) And as far as "no one" knowing who he is... that's why early contributions are so important. It's going to help him get better known.
And then there's the luck of the draw. I've always believed in it. And will Lindsey Graham even be his opponent in 2014? Graham has a primary to win first-- and he's far from a shoo-in, even if he's trying to make the weak case that he's the conservative in the race. The Republican crackpot who heads the heavily subsidized fake Tea Party outfit FreedomWorks, Matt Kibbe, has been threatening Graham all year. In May, he went crazy when Lindsey and McCain attacked Rand Paul and Ted Cruz as "wacko birds." Kibbe told ABC News that Graham "is begging for a primary."
A bloody and bitter Republican civil war in South Carolina is probably Stamper's best shot at winning. And that's exactly what's shaping up now. - Down With Tyranny, 8/5/13
Plus Stamper could always hit Graham on his support for the chained CPI which Stamper adamantly opposes:
Some members of Congress want to reduce benefits for the most vulnerable members of our society by replacing the current Consumer Price Index with one that grows more slowly, the so-called "Chained CPI."
I strongly oppose the adoption of the Chained CPI for two main reasons.
First, adopting the Chained CPI is the wrong prescription for our economy. If the proposal is adopted, the total disposable income of millions of Americans will be slashed, reducing the consumer spending that our economy relies on to create jobs.
Second, implementing the Chained CPI is simply the wrong thing to do. It will hurt retirees, veterans, and those receiving disability or social security who depend on the existing Consumer Price Index to keep up with the rising cost of healthcare. Under the Chained CPI, these Americans will find it more and more difficult to afford the medical care they need just to survive.
I am very concerned about the effect of the Chained CPI proposal on veterans in South Carolina and across the country. Our veterans and their families are the last people we should be turning our backs on. Lawmakers like to talk about how indebted we are to our veterans for sacrificing everything to protect our liberty and freedom. Now, we need to prove we mean it by opposing the Chained CPI. - Jay Stamper (D. SC), U.S. Senate Candidate
The last Democrat to hold a U.S. Senate seat was Ernest Hollings (D. SC) who was Senator from 1966 to 2005. South Carolina is going to be the political hot spot next year not only with Graham having to make sure he's his party's nominee but you also have the special Senate election with Tim Scott (R. SC) running for a full term. You also have State Senator Vincent Sheheen (D. SC) seeking a rematch to unseat vulnerable Governor Nikki Haley (R. SC) so it's going to be a big year. And Stamper could also benefit from that. I know we all feel discouraged from Mark Sanford (R, SC) defeating Elizabeth Colbert Busch (D. SC) in what should've been ours for the taking. But of course the secretive smear tactics and big outside money prevailed in helping Sanford win. Plus Sanford was running in still a red district. But Colbert Busch's candidacy helped wake up the South Carolina Democratic Party and South Carolina Democrats are very excited about Sheheen's candidacy. If everything goes our way in the primary, South Carolina Democrats would have another candidate to be excited about. Plus Libertarians in South Carolina would also have a candidate they could get behind. There's already a Libertarians For Stamper Twitter account with a decent following:
https://twitter.com/...
I'm not guaranteeing anything here but Stamper's candidacy is worth looking into:
http://jaystamper.com/