Thread: Unease in G.O.P. Over Mississippi Tea Party Anger - Prediction: He will either resign

Prediction: He will either resign and/or decide not to run again or the GOP is TOAST!!!

Politics

Unease in G.O.P. Over Mississippi Tea Party Anger

By JONATHAN WEISMAN
JULY 4, 2014



Senator Thad Cochran speaking at a rally in Jackson, Miss., in June. His defeated challenger is seeking a revote. Credit Aaron Phillips for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — The stormy aftermath of Mississippi’s Republican Senate runoff has sent Tea Party conservatives around the country to the ramparts, raising the prospect of a prolonged battle that holds the potential to depress conservative turnout in November in Mississippi — and possibly beyond.
The campaign of State Senator Chris McDaniel has formally filed a legal notice that it intends to contest the results of the June 24 runoff against Senator Thad Cochran, a six-term incumbent. At least two lawsuits from McDaniel allies are in the works, one demanding the release of election records, the other accusing Mississippi authorities of culpability in the suicide of a Mississippi Tea Party leader on June 27.

The turmoil has given Mr. Cochran’s Democratic challenger, former Representative Travis Childers, an opening to exploit the divide in what is otherwise seen as a race in which he trails badly. “Senator Cochran does not have the confidence of his state, let alone his own party,” Mr. Childers said.

State Senator Chris McDaniel is contesting the results of the June 24 runoff election. Credit William Widmer for The New York Times Perhaps more worrisome to Washington Republicans is that if conservative outrage in Mississippi spreads, some Tea Party voters in other states where the Republican establishment’s candidate has prevailed could stay home in November. That could bolster Democrats like Kay Hagan in North Carolina, Mark Pryor in Arkansas, Mark Begich in Alaska or Michelle Nunn in Georgia.
“Oh, we are watching. We are furious. The G.O.P. wants us to sit down, shut up and vote for their RINO,” Jane Bilello, chairwoman of the Asheville Tea Party in North Carolina, said, using the acronym for Republican in Name Only. “We are putting our foot down, and until the Republicans learn this lesson, they’re going to continue to lose elections.”
At least for now, Republican officials in Washington — and even some senior Democrats — are not predicting a contagion spreading across the Mississippi border. In the case of North Carolina, the Republican nominee to take on Ms. Hagan was not the first choice of most Tea Party activists. But Thom Tillis, the North Carolina House speaker, has strong conservative credentials. So does Representative Tom Cotton, the Republican challenging Mr. Pryor in Arkansas.
Ernie Blount, an organizer of the Independent Tea Party of White County, Ark., called the Mississippi runoff “a travesty” engineered by “the Republican Machine.” Mr. Cotton, however, still has his vote, he said.
But the open-ended nature of the Mississippi Republican civil war injects an element of uncertainty. By serving a notice of intent to contest the results, Mr. McDaniel will have 10 days from the official certification of Mr. Cochran’s victory to gather evidence and file an appeal. Certification is not expected until next week.
If, as expected, that appeal is filed, the Mississippi Republican Party would almost certainly reject it, sending the matter to the courts. Lawyers involved in the McDaniel case said they would be aiming for a new runoff election by mid-September.
Noel Fritsch, a spokesman for the McDaniel campaign, claims the campaign and its allies have identified 4,900 “irregular” ballots, with 31 counties and 19,000 absentee ballots still to be examined. Mr. Cochran prevailed by 6,693 votes. By checking voter rolls, McDaniel allies can identify Mississippians who voted in the June 3 Democratic primary and match them against names of people who voted in the Republican runoff, although they would be prohibited from voting in both. That will not tell them whether two-time voters cast ballots in the runoff for Mr. McDaniel or Mr. Cochran.
The Cochran campaign calls the McDaniel figures for ineligible voters wildly exaggerated. And while some number of miscast votes might be found, nowhere near enough will be uncovered to change the results, said Austin Barbour, a Cochran campaign adviser.
He pointed to the Eastover precinct in Jackson where the McDaniel camp says 130 disputed ballots have been identified. But only 35 Democrats voted in that precinct on June 3.
“It had always been our hope that after the runoff ended, we could move to the general election,” Mr. Barbour said. “We’ve been gracious to Senator McDaniel. Unfortunately, the time has come that we in the Cochran campaign can no longer sit silent about these baseless accusations.”
The accusations are not going away.
Mr. McDaniel is raising money nationally to try to force a revote. On Thursday, he declared his intention to fund 15 $1,000 rewards for people who bring forward evidence leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in voter fraud. And groups like FreedomWorks and the Madison Project have vowed their support.
McDaniel allies even hijacked a conference call on Wednesday that the Cochran campaign hoped to hold with the national news media to rebut charges of vote-buying and corruption, turning it into a debacle.
“The time has come for the McDaniel campaign and its allies to put up or shut up; if they have hard evidence, put it forward,” said Mr. Barbour, before being hooted off the call by unruly questioners.
Democrats in Washington are watching the feud cautiously, not yet convinced it will put even Mississippi in play. The Democratic nominee, Mr. Childers, has raised little money and was always seen as a good candidate against Mr. McDaniel but as a marginal one against Mr. Cochran.
Conservative activists are not so sure. Dwayne Hall, vice president of the Miller County Patriots, a Tea Party group in Texarkana, Ark., says he has set up a Google alert for the McDaniel-Cochran fight and emails his network of fellow activists all the news from Mississippi.
“I’m no longer a member of the Republican Party, and I’d expect a lot of my fellow patriots to resign, too,” he said, adding: “I’m perfectly willing to do a protest vote in November if that’s my best option. I’m keeping that option open.”
Adam Brandon, executive vice president of the national Tea Party funder FreedomWorks, said Republican leaders like Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky may yet succeed in “smashing” Tea Party groups, but they are doing so at a great cost.
“The way activists feel treated by the party, they may stay home in November, and even if they do vote, I can tell you they’re not going door to door,” he said. “When Mitch McConnell says, ‘We’re going to stamp these guys out and smash them all over the country,’ how are Republicans going to win anywhere?”
A version of this article appears in print on July 5, 2014, on page A10 of the New York edition with the headline: Unease in G.O.P. Over Mississippi Tea Party Anger.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/05/us...=top-news&_r=2

Ted Cruz speaks out as Mississippi's Republican civil war spreads

The Mississippi Republican primary between Sen. Thad Cochran and tea party-backed Chris McDaniel has been ugly and could get worse. Ted Cruz is jumping in, and McDaniel is moving toward a legal challenge.


By Linda Feldmann July 8, 2014 9:36 AM

McDaniel Weighs Challenge In Mississippi U.S. Senate Primary
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Sen. Ted Cruz has jumped into Mississippi’s political drama, a sign that the deepening dispute over the state’s Republican Senate primary runoff is seeping into the national GOP.

Several videos at the page link:

In a radio interview Monday, the conservative Texas Republican positioned himself firmly on the side of Chris McDaniel, the Mississippi state senator who lost to Sen. Thad Cochran on June 24. The tea party-backed Mr. McDaniel claims Senator Cochran “stole” the election by reaching out to Democratic voters, many of them black, who then voted “illegally” in the June 24 runoff.
“These allegations need to be vigorously investigated, and anyone involved in criminal conduct should be prosecuted,” Senator Cruz said on the “Mark Levin Show.” “The voters of Mississippi deserve to know the truth.”
Recommended: Election 2014: the most competitive Senate races
Cruz also slammed “the conduct of the Washington D.C. machine” in the runoff.
Cruz’s comments represented a sharp departure from his neutral posture in GOP primaries – in itself, an unusual approach to his duties as vice chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. The committee works to reelect incumbent GOP senators.
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Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) delivers remarks at the Faith & Freedom Coalition "Road to Majority" pol …

Cruz’s comments Monday came as the state Republican Party certified the results of the runoff, showing that Cochran beat McDaniel by 7,667 votes. That margin is about 1,000 more than the initial vote count on election night.
Also on Monday, the McDaniel campaign’s lawyer expressed confidence that the result of the runoff could be overturned in court. Mitch Tyner, speaking to reporters in the state capital of Jackson, said that canvassers for the McDaniel campaign were poring over the vote records in courthouses across the state and had found “several thousand ineligible voters.” He expected the canvass to be completed later this week, at which point the campaign would file a challenge with the state Republican Party. If that is rejected, as expected, the campaign will file for judicial review. In addition, last Tuesday, an outside group filed suit in federal court.
The Cochran campaign released preliminary results of its own vote canvass early Tuesday, showing a smattering of either “questioned” votes or “crossover” votes across the state – but nowhere near enough to change the result of the runoff.
Both the McDaniel campaign and the outside group, True the Vote, allege that unauthorized voters tipped the balance for Cochran in the runoff. In the state’s open primary system, any Mississippi voter may cast a ballot in a Republican runoff, as long as he or she did not vote in the immediately preceding Democratic primary.
In the Republican primary, held June 3, McDaniel topped Cochran by about 1,300 votes, but did not win a majority, sending the race into a runoff.
GOP Senate battle rages on Play Video


That’s when Team Cochran sprang into action, devising a plan to expand the electorate. The campaign and a key pro-Cochran outside group devised an outreach program to Mississippi voters who might be persuaded to support the senator in the runoff. The campaign highlighted Cochran’s ability to steer federal money to his home state for education, defense, and agriculture.
Many of those new Cochran voters were black. This raised questions over whether they were eligible to vote, as the vast majority of Mississippi African-Americans are Democrats and might have voted in the Democratic primary.
But the Cochran campaign warns not to assume that all the new voters in the runoff in fact voted for Cochran. Indeed, some Democrats might have voted for McDaniel, on the idea that he would be easier to beat in the general election than Cochran. National Democrats rooted for McDaniel to win the runoff, giving the Democratic nominee, former Rep. Travis Childers, a chance in November.
Cochran was seen as a safe bet for November. But the bitter dispute over the runoff has injected doubt there as well. McDaniel’s most fervent supporters are now saying they will not support Cochran in the general election, and if that attitude spreads widely among the rank and file of McDaniel voters, Cochran could be in trouble.
In a Facebook post, state Sen. Melanie Sojourner (R), McDaniel’s campaign manager, vowed never to endorse Cochran and accused his campaign of “race baiting.”
Defeated U.S. Senate Candidate In Mississippi Vows … Play Video


A Mississippi tea party leader, Grant Sowell of Tupelo, said he too could never support Cochran in November.
“There have been clear instances of fraud, there have been clear instances of what appears to be buying votes,” says Mr. Sowell in an interview. “This goes beyond Chris McDaniel or Thad Cochran or even the Senate race. This has the concern of Mississippians, when it comes to the integrity of our elections going forward. If we don’t correct it now, we may never get it back.”
Sowell says he’s spoken to hundreds of people since the runoff, and “I’ve not talked to one person who is supporting Chris McDaniel who will vote for Thad under any circumstance.”
Top Cochran adviser Stuart Stevens – a nationally known Republican strategist – added fuel to the flames Monday in a column in the Daily Beast, warning that McDaniel’s anger could backfire.
“Maybe I’m old school, but I still believe conservatism’s goal should be to serve as a serious, grounded governing philosophy. It certainly was that during Ronald Reagan’s presidency, a man Chris McDaniel holds out to be his hero,” wrote Mr. Stevens, a native of Mississippi.
“But if that conservative ideal of governance is nudged aside and replaced by something that’s just a rallying cry for angry lost causes, it’s hard to imagine how the left won’t win.”
For now, the right is immersing itself ever deeper into the McDaniel cause. And not just verbally, as with Cruz. The Washington-based Senate Conservatives Fund, a super political action committee, is raising funds to support McDaniel’s legal challenge. Other out-of-state tea party support groups are supporting McDaniel’s effort. And the civil war in Mississippi’s Republican Party rages on, with no end in sight.

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