Picking Candidates for the GOP

For John, BLUF:  What do Republicans stand for?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Thanks to Republican Activist Celeste Wilson I received a link to a Boston Herald article on the possible future of our former US Senate Candidate, Gabriel Gomez.  The headline is "Gabriel Gomez prime for 2014 run".

The article has a picture of Mr Gomez and his wife, Sarah.

I assume this is just a trial balloon, but the future of Gabriel Gomez as a Republican Candidate is an interesting one.  There are two issues here, in my mind.

The first issue is mentioned in the article.  Mr David Paleologos, a pollster with Suffolk University, was quoted as saying:

We noticed in one of the last polls that [are] people getting uneasy about the Obama administration.♠

I have to admit that I sense a certain loss of faith in the current administration.  If not corrected, this slide could be reflected in the elections in 2014.

The second issue is how we, as Republicans, understand Mr Gomez.  Being frank and up front about it, many Republicans, Libertarians and Conservative leaning independents have doubts about Mr Gomez.  People I know handed in blank ballots rather than vote for Mr Gomez.  This is a legitimate act of voting.  The question is, was the act of sending a message to the Mass GOP more responsible than voting in a way to avoid the election of Senator Ed Markey.

It is my opinion that across the spectrum of candidates, Mr Gomez, while not my model candidate, is much to be preferred to Mr Markey.  By submitting a conscience vote of "not Mr Gomez" we therefore increase the likelihood of Mr Markey being elected, a profoundly bad outcome of and in itself.  Your mileage may differ.

The other thing to consider, however, is that often what is missing in elections is the proper articulation of Republican positions by those in the campaign.  This is a little different from the position articulated by our esteemed former City Manager, Mr Bill Taupier.  The Taupier model is to knock the door, shake the hand, pass the literature and move on.  The approach recently tried in California's Central Valley shows that Republicans who articulate a clear message can gain Hispanic votes, and thus the votes of other groups who Democrats believe are in their pocket.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  I went to the Suffolk University web site and failed to find a recent national level poll, so one assumes Mr Paleologos was looking at polls being conducted by others.