‘I Thought I Smelt a Rat’, or, ‘Winning Primaries, Losing Elections The Tea Party Way’.

How was it possible that Sen. Harry Reid, a man behind in the polls, a public enemy outside of Nevada get re-elected to the US. Senate? I instantly sniffed a rat in the making, I took the conclusion it was voter fraud that pushed Dirty Harry over the line. I had no evidence, and if Twitter tends were anything to go by, a lot of Joe public thought the same. There were too many elements that didn’t add up.

How was Reid who was so behind in the polls, able to turn the pundits on their heads? How were the exit polls that indicated leaning towards Angle, get the final result so wrong? Even those stories of early voters claims the leaver for Reid was pulled before they even touched the voting machine, fueled my suspicions. Why did Angle concede to Reid so rapidly on election night? How was Reid able to win so convincingly, while Reid’s son Rory, gets so blown out of the water in the NV Governor race? When a person votes for a party, don’t they tend to mark the ballot across party lines? How did Rory miss that bandwagon? I was now investing heavily in the speculation market, I bought heavy into the voter fraud theory. As anyone knows, once you question the single gun theory, you’re already Incubus on a conspiracy theory beer run.

I needed proof, and fluffy Politico articles apologizing for Harry victory wasn’t cutting it for me. I thought a full fledged audio documentary might do the trick. It seemed like the perfect topic for a long overdue Solid Principles Podcast. I made my first call to a connection, who in turn passed onto me the details of an individual who had worked on the Angle campaign. I expressed my doubts, and they quickly requested to speak off the record. No names please they added, they didn’t want to be seen as throwing ungrateful sour grape pips at how the Angle campaign glass house had been run, but…. a recent Politico article hadn’t been too far off the mark.

The public perception of the Angle campaign was that of energized grassroot Tea Party bangers, emptying their wallets into Angle’s coffers, and transforming Nevada into a revival tent meeting for Angle.  No doubt the Tea Party crowd were nice enough folks, sure they wanted Reid blood to spill in November, but on a grand scale they were still popping the corks over the Angle Primary result. Along the way, they forgot they were taking on a professional kingpin in the Senate. A person who had inherited the Ted Kennedy power broker mantle in the DNC. When the ‘Get Out The Vote’ DNC goon squad arrived in Vegas, no one was there to counter the campaigning tourists. So what happened to all the energized army of Tea Party Angle supporters?  They were too busy fending off the dreaded Arizonan RINO to notice.

When RINO number one Sen. John McCain offered to campaign for Angle, it was the Tea Party members that rang Angle HQ on mass.  They blasted the offer, and promised a pitchfork welcome to McCain if he landed anywhere near McCarran International.  Courting the moderate Republicans according to Angle Tea Party supporters, was not kosher, meaning the Republicans for Reid voters were still on deck for Harry.

Also lurking behind the scenes, the Angle camp was a mess.  For instance, the marketing and advertising for Angle was a debacle.   Mis-directed advertising strategies prevailed like the billboard trucks, circling the Vegas Strip like drunken vultures pushing Angle on out of state tourists. As this individual explained the saga, I still asked, what about the result? How did the polling go south for Angle?   How did Harry get over the line? I presented my theory. They responded, “I think”, then paused, “We just plain lost”.   Sure the Tea Party faithful were there chanting ‘Don’t Concede’ to Angle on election night, but they were like me, just trying to cope with the result that didn’t go their way.

My next step was an email exchange between a prominent political journalist in Las Vegas. I thought an insider would be the voice of reason in the saga, I mentioned how a few things didn’t seem to add up with result. His reply was simple. Angle lost by 41,000, nothing to add, nothing to speak of, end of story, goodbye!   My concept of a grandiose Podcast went up in smoke, and I took the hint.

Inside of Nevada, the result came as no surprise of an Angle defeat. Nevada had more registered Democrats then Republicans, just more Dems came voting Harry on the day. Outside of Nevada, pinning it all on voter fraud was a convenient conclusion since the media pundits oversold the perception of a Angle victory using hype.  In the end, the Tea Party showed themselves to be happy amateurs as campaigners and major meddlers.  They were just no match to the Reid ‘meat grinder like cheese grater’ they ran into.

While I will admit, I was one of those that took the bait, and thought the SEIU fixed it for Reid.  Sure it was nice picking up Obama’s old Senate seat, but bagging Biden’s old seat and booting out Reid would’ve been a grand slam for the GOP. The Tea Party did help sway a few Primaries, and were able to push aside a few political hacks or RINO’s in the process.  What they need to fathom the most is how elections are won, and how conservatives are just one voting block, (not the only component) within the political spectrum.

Blood on the lips from the Primary showed it wasn’t enough to carry Angle, O’Donnell, and Miller over the finish line. The Tea Party just backed the wrong Elephant, and instead gave Republicans voters a White Elephant in return.

- CRAIG EDWARDS –

Unrelated Listening – Big Mama Thornton – I Smell A Rat