The Senator who must be replaced!
A big thank you to everyone who has voted so far in our straw poll! We are very encouraged by the amount of excitement and energy generated by all of the candidates. With this type of enthusiasm we should be able to defeat Patty Murray. As we said in the first post, in the end the most important thing is that we replace her with someone who will stand for the Constitution and the principles upon which our great nation was founded. And it would be a plus to have someone that will allow the private sector to create jobs rather wasting all of our money on bailouts and spending us into oblivion.
As of Sunday Dec. 20th at 6PM we have received over 1,033 votes and over 50 people have expressed their opinion as to which candidate they prefer. At this point, Clint Didier was in the lead with 420 votes (40%), Chris Widener 344 (33%), Craig Williams 132 (13%), Sean Salazar 124 (12%), and Art Coday with 18, (2%).
(UPDATE) As of Tuesday at 11PM we have received over 2,000 votes! At this point Chris Widener has taken the lead with 897 ( 44%), Clint has 663 (33%), Sean Salazar has 302 (15%), Craig Williams has 143 (7%), and finally Art Coday has 25 votes (1%).
Be sure to pass the link on to your friends and family and get them to educate themselves and vote on the candidate of their choice. We will leave the poll open through next Sunday, Dec. 27th and after all the votes our in we will declare the winner of the first straw poll in the Washington State Republican Senatorial Primary. So please vote in the poll and comment. We must replace Patty Murray, who do you think is the best candidate to do the job?
All 5 candidates will speak about their platforms and answer your questions on January 16 at the Puget Sound Conservative Underground's "Meet the Senate Candidates Forum" in Redmond. How about waiting until you hear them all before "voting" on the best candidate? Right now, this voting is like a popularity contest for the 5th grade student council elections. You may RSVP for the forum at http://www.meetup.com/pugetsoundconservativeunderground/... Seats are limited.
FYI – In addition to the above stated forum there are several more over the next few months. Please go to seanforsenate.com and review the calendar. Go to one of the upcoming candiate forums if you have not seen all the candidates yet.
Dan, I am glad you are holding a meet the candidates forum on Jan. 16th and I may try to make it. I disagree with your attack of this straw poll though. Straw polls are an important aspect of politics. All of the people voting are expressing their support for the candidate they support at this moment. The poll gives the candidates and their campaigns a barometer of where their campaign stands at this early junction. Including their ability to get their volunteers and facebook friends to take 30 seconds and vote in a poll. Obviously things may change, and this poll is by no means a complete and 100% accurate measure of their current support. If this poll is simply a fifth grade popularity contest then I guess all politics and elections fall subject to your stinging indictment.
I've looked at the Evergreen Report's Straw Poll. None of the candidates listed have any public service experience. They've never been voted [by ANY public] into a position of public responsibility and now they want to represent us in arguably one of the most powerful governmental bodies in the nation. They must either have the biggest ego, the deepest pockets, wealthiest and/or most manipulative friends in the northwest; None of these factors are legitimate reasons to run for such a high office. Even Dino spent a few years in the Legislature!
If they believe that being a businessman or professional of some sort qualifies them for public service,they're sadly mistaken. Looking after a business, profession and/or family members is largely an effort in self-interest and/or preserving the bottom line. But to believe that such background qualifies you for the US Senate, c'mon. They typically don't feel the kind of pain .. that Joe-six pack does; not if they're honest with themselves.
Before you give me a bootstrap speech about this or that candidate, understand that a Horatio Alger graduate isn't necessarily qualified to do the will of the public. In fact some may argue the opposite, that it limits your experience to 'how to exploit your skill set, your environment and others to succeed" in mainly a financial way. And isn't that what it's all about anyway?
But don't get me wrong …self interest and ego have their place .. but personally I like to look for more rounded candidates that have paid their dues with years of experience in serving the real public … not just clients, customers, patients or sports fans. Am I wrong?
As I just posted to you on Facebook Clint does have quite a bit of community service with a children's cancer group (FCCF), as eight years on the WA State Farm Service Agency Committee whose mission was to uphold the integrity of the FSA programs.
He talks about it a small bit in his speeches but doesn't make it the center of his campaign to me it seems like it's not something he does in order to advance himself.
It's something he does for the children. He doesn't like to push that up as a "look at what I do for the children" political tool. At least that is the impression I get. The FSA experience is on his web page on the about page
http://www.fightingchildrenscancer.org/events.php
I would really suggest you read Clints about page. He isn't a big time rich man with rich friends. He's a farmer who happens to have once played major league football. When he was playing they didn't have the HUGE multimillion salaries they do today.
I will disagree on the point of being a business man not preparing you for office. I think the one thing our government lacks if people who look at the bottom line and understand the economy from the little man small business point of view. Clint understands those issues from the perspective of a man effected by the massive overspending from people who seem to know absolutely nothing about how to balance a check book much less a budget. If the government was run like a business we'd all be better off because business understand that there are rules to follow and our government can't seem to get it through their thick skulls that they have rules to follow as well (the constitution.)
What experience did John Adams, Sam Adams, Patrick Henry, or Benjiman Franklin(just to name a few) have in the First Continental Congress. They people who wanted to make a difference.
Patty Murray Camp In Shock: In the latest poll taken last week Senator Murray’s campaign staff for the 2010 re-election effort were shocked to find that Dr. Sean Salazar was within 12 points of Murray. The problem for Murray is that Salazar is an unknown who has come out of no where t.o challenge the Senator. Interesting
By Bob Clark | 12/29/09 | 08:22 AM EDT
http://www.redcounty.com/washington-state-politic... More
Debra, can you tell us some more about this? What is the source for this information? Was the poll paid for by the Patty Murray campaign, or some other organization. I've also heard this exact same report from Bob Clark and from Diego Trejo. Please let us know the specifis of this poll. Also, how do you know for a fact that Murray's "campaign staff … were shocked"?
We agree with Steve. While we hope very much that Salazar is that close to Murray in said polling, and we have seen the short blurb on Red County we would like to see the source for this information.