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Party faithful seek to turn trend started with
2006 defeats
By Ron Fitzwater
Members of the Ashe County Republican Party gathered at the County
Courthouse Saturday to plan
strategies to support party candidates as they move forward in
the 2008 campaign season.
Party Chairman John Wheeler welcomed the gathered faithful and
went about the business of selecting delegates to the upcoming
district and state conventions.
"Organization is going to be essential this campaign cycle.
This election year the Democrats are very energized and they feel
they are going to have a sweeping victory. What will stop them
from doing that will be the extent to which we are organized and
turn out the vote," Wheeler said.
Conventioneers held precinct meetings to take care of administrative
details before gathering in the lobby of the courthouse for lunch.
During the break several candidates or their representatives made
the rounds pitching their candidacies for offices ranging from
US Senate, US House, governor, Lt. governor, county commissioner
and various district and state judicial seats.
Following lunch, party members gathered in the third floor courtroom
to hear speeches from candidates, special guests and keynote speaker
Judge Donna Stroud.
Wheeler opened the convention welcoming members and guests; Rev.
Dwayne Durham offered an invocation and the group was led in the
Pledge of Allegiance by Lee McMillan.
Due to scheduling constraints, Senator Elizabeth Dole was first
to speak. Using her time to motivate party members the Senator
pointed out that several seats were up for election this season
including hers and that unless they wanted to live with a completely
Democrat controlled government, they needed to get out and work
hard for the party's candidates.
"I want to thank you for allowing me to serve as your senator
and I want to ask for your help as we move forward with the reelection
campaign. It is certainly going to be a competitive contest. There
are five Democrats running in the primary and they are not targeting
each other, they are targeting me," Dole said.
Dole spoke of the inspiration she draws from her years working
with President Ronald Reagan and said that what Republicans needed
to do was get out and fight for the things he cared about.
"He was a man of great integrity and honesty, love of family
and love of God, and he was a man who believed in hard work. It
is our responsibility to get out there and work hard for what
I know is a great group of candidates around the state,"
Dole said.
Dole concluded her remarks to the party members saying this was
going to be a tough cycle for Republicans and that it would take
a dedicated effort to win or hold the 23 senate seats on ballot
this year.
Dole was unable to stay due to a scheduled appearance at Ashe
Memorial Hospital.
5th District Congresswoman Virginia Foxx followed Dole and told
the crowd that the senator was right about it being a tough election
cycle but that she was very optimistic about it.
"I feel like we have a really good chance across the board.
Our presidential candidate wasn't my first choice but he is going
to be our standard bearer and we need to get him elected because
if the Democrats pull off a big win they will take us down the
road of socialism so fast it will make your head spin. I am optimistic
about taking back the House because we have 60 seats that Democrats
are sitting in now that President Bush won twice. We can come
back in 2008 and take at least 20 of those seats back," Foxx
said.
Foxx bemoaned the Democrat-controlled Congress for their failure
to move legislation forward. Adding they had pushed through things
like the naming of Post Offices instead of doing what she called
the real work for the people.
"We should be voting on FISA because it is a very important
bill and we are having women and men die because it has been allowed
to lapse. The Democrats are willing to sacrifice our brave fighting
men and women for politics."
Foxx closed by encouraging the party members to get out and do
what needed to be done to get Republicans back in a position of
power "from the courthouse to the White House," she
said.
NC State Court of Appeals Judge Donna Stroud addressed the group
as convention keynote speaker. Stroud thanked the party members
for their support during her 2006 candidacy for the court.
"2008 is going to be a very challenging year for Republicans.
We have some unusual features in this election and we don't know
just yet what effect they will have on our races and we have a
larger ideological divide between right and left this year than
we have ever seen before. But the good news is that we have wonderful
candidates on every level here in the state including four candidates
for governor, any of whom can come in and clean up the corruption
in Raleigh," Stroud said.
Pointing out that there are three branches of government to consider
during election time, Stroud cited that the judicial branch was
one that needed precise attention because judicial candidates
appear on ballots without party affiliation denoted.
"For many years our judiciary was almost completely Democrat-controlled
but it has started to really change and Republicans have started
winning. But this time, what we face right now, is the possibility
of losing our majority on the N.C. Supreme Court," she said.
Stroud pointed out that the gender make-up of the judiciary had
changed and that there were currently more women judges than ever
before, however, they are mostly Democrats.
Stroud said that gathering information and researching the candidates
is the only way to know if they are Republican or not and that
unless people know who the judicial candidates are they may inadvertently
vote for the wrong one or not vote at all. Voting a straight party
ticket will negate any vote for judges. Since they appear on the
ballot without party affiliation no vote is registered for them
when someone votes a straight ticket.
Stroud encouraged the party members to get out and work for Republican
judicial candidates as hard as they do for all other candidates
to keep pace with the Democrats and prevent a severe left-wing
shift in the state's judiciary.
Following Stroud's address several candidates for state and local
offices addressed the conventioneers.
Candidates addressing the convention were:
Robert Pittenger, N.C. State Senator and candidate for N.C. Lieutenant
Governor
Dan Soucek, candidate for the 93rd District Senate Seat
Bob Edmonds, State Supreme Court Justice running for reelection
Bob Orr, N.C. Gubernatorial candidate
Dr. Jerry Butler, candidate for the 45th Senatorial District
Judge Jeanie Houston, 23d Judicial District Judge running for
reelection
Burt Green, candidate for the 23d Judicial District
Judy Porter Poe, Ashe County Commissioner running for reelection
Larry Rhodes, Ashe County Commissioner running for reelection
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