July 29, 2010 12:00 AM UTC

Bob McConnell on the 'Issues'

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• by: ClubTwitty

With recent national endorsements and the support of loyal Tea Partiers behind him, Bob McConnell has a real chance in the GOP Primary for CD3.

Claiming the mantle of ‘citizen-leader’ (i.e. not-a-politician) McConnell came within 10 points of his Republican opponent, Scott Tipton (who unsuccessfully challenged incumbent John Salazar in 2006) at the State Assembly. Tipton is widely regarded as the establishment candidate, and a ‘politician,’ poison to western Colorado Tea Partiers.  

Indeed, much of McConnell’s support comes from an alliance of grassroots supported Tea Party affinity groups.  Random reports from around the Western Slope paint the picture of a shoe-leather campaign, and provide insight to this candidate, as this recent article from the Mountain Valley News:

“I have a list of people that I would like to have resign when I get to Washington. I want resignations from Janet Napolitano from her position of Secretary of Homeland Security, Attorney General, Eric Holder for his refusal to respond to the allegations that some high ranking official offered Andrew Romanoff, seeking the US Senate seat now held by incumbent and Obama appointed Michael Bennett, a high ranking position if he would back out of the US Senate race in 2010. I want to add Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Ben Beranke, to my list of people to ask for a resignation. President Barak Obama is on that list and so is Secretary of Agriculture Ken Salazar,” said McConnell. [Emphasis Twitty}

The Secretary’s proper department and governor’s role in appointing Sen. Bennet notwithstanding, McConnell clearly can serve up the red meat to his base.

Bob McConnell, basking in the glow of his endorsement from Sarah Palin for the 3rd Congressional District, told cheering supporters Thursday that he dreamed the health-care bill pursued by President Obama would result in the president’s political undoing in a conflict with a new GOP Congress.

…His dream, McConnell told the group, was that Republicans capture the House and Senate and repeal the health care legislation sought by President Obama that passed Congress this year with the vote of Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo, whose district includes most the Western Slope and Southern Colorado.

The president’s veto would set the stage for voter outrage that would lead him to resign for the good of the country, McConnell told the group, resulting in the elevation of Vice President Joe Biden to the presidency and his appointment, with the consent of a Republican Senate, a “centrist” vice president. “Is that a dream?” McConnell told the group, to cheers.

Information on McConnell’s website is long on vague positions and patriotic platitudes:

I believe Congressmen should read every bill, understand what it means, know how it will be paid for, and post it for their constituents to read before they vote.

But statements by the candidate as he makes his way around the 3rd CD offer greater detail, again from Mountain Valley News:

“My belief is that we are one nation under God. There are people that say I am to bull-headed to compromise. I’ll compromise, but not if the compromise is evil,” said McConnell.

“…I want to immediately repeal the Endangered Species Act, and the EPA is completely out of control. We need to de-fund the National Health Care Act, and Repeal the Federal Reserve Act. We need less federal government and to give the states back their rights to govern,” said McConnell.

The ability of the Tea Partiers to win elections beyond the Primary remains–to my mind–in doubt.  And John Salazar retains a vast funding advantage over either Tipton or McConnell, making either of their prospects in the General an uphill fight.  But the Partiers might yet leave their mark by August 10th, and Colorado’s Third Congressional District is one race to watch as the insurgent campaign of the Cowboy Colonel rides the cresting Tea Party wave.