Post from marvhagedorn at CHUMLY

A note to my conservative friends who are following the GOP Presidential Candidate races:

Remember that our primaries around the country are to distill that candidate that WE want to run against President Obama. I would advise not to get caught up in "who's got the best plan" thing, but be more focused on who has the ability to get the Executive branch working with the Legislative branch for the betterment of our nation. Discussions of plans and past behaviors are an excellent way to determine the core character of a man or woman that is reaching for our vote. We are not electing a "King" who will be able to implement everything he promises, but someone who can lead from the front and be able to ask hard questions and make tough decisions.
We've seen a perfect example of believing one's promises to get elected ("Close Gitmo", "Double Funding for After School Programs", "Increase minimum wage to $9.50/hr", "Pay for the national service plan without increasing the deficit", "Reduce earmarks to 1994 levels", "Give annual State of the World" address","Enact windfall profits tax for oil companies", "Create cap and trade system with interim goals to reduce global warming", "Require plug-in fleet at the White House"... and that list of promises goes on and on). We have 3 branches of government and each of those branches require leadership that understands moving the ball forward is "Hard work" (like peace) and that requires making decisions that will likely even get us conservatives upset at times.... but that's what it's going to take to right this ship.
Campaigning is about not only inspiring your base of supporters to get out and vote, but can also be about dis-incentivizing the base of your opponent to keep them from going to the polls. Example: how will you feel (say, if Gov Romney is our candidate) when the President praises him for creating "Romneycare" in MA and "credits" it as the foundation of "Obamacare"? Do you think that might turn off some conservatives from going to the polls to vote for our candidate (in which case Obama wins)? I think it will, and that's just one example of the risks we need to also focus on when picking our candidate for to run for President... Even if the President's support lags and he sees a reduction of votes from his base, he just needs to keep our candidates base from coming out to vote by discrediting our candidate abilities, background or experience! This could truly be an election of having to hold one's nose for either candidate... if we again let it be that way.
With the funds being raised, I think this is going to be a ugly Presidential election. I would advise you to look for that GOP candidate who has exhibited examples of leadership, success and life experiences and that has the widest base of support with the least amount of risk of losing support from our conservative base when things get ugly. It's a lot to ask of a single man or woman, but we need our best to stand tall and win the Presidency in 2012... our nation's future depends on your involvement and support of who that person will be.
Let's not "eat our young" but get to know these people so to select the best person for this job and then get behind them.
http://chumly.com/n/cf8119