The CRNC campaign thus far, plus what to expect

Colorado's Charlie Smith has had the floor for the better part of a month now, and while he has not used the open microphone very extensively, he is still the lone candidate in the race. For better or worse, whether you agree with his silence since announcing his candidacy or not, no one is exactly forcing him to explain himself.

No platform? No problem, because there is no one there to call him out about running for an office for which he has no plans for. No website? No problem, because no one else can say they have a better one. No announcement of a national chapter and state tour? No problem, because there is no need to get out on the stump for votes when there is no opposing candidate.

This past week, feathers were ruffled when Smith turned down the invitation to appear on a panel at CPAC, a panel which also featured Leadership Institute mogul Morton Blackwell. A group of state chairmen sent him an email expressing their displeasure for this move, but it was largely misconstrued as anger that Smith was appearing to slight the Leadership Institute. The real reason for the email? Well, it is right there in the email, for all to see: how can Charlie Smith claim to not be the CRNC's favored son when they chose him to appear on the panel? In 2005, when it came time for CPAC, Chairman candidate Paul Gourley was tapped to appear on the CRNC's behalf. The CRNC generally gets "their guy" to do this, and while Smith chose not to accept, the very fact that he was asked sends bad signs.

Next weekend is the planned summit of the key players in this election in California, at a pseudo-conference with Michael Davidson that looks to be a much more contentious version of Yalta, where the Churchill and FDR figures will not let the Stalin figure out of line an inch. This is not the first such meeting of the minds, but it is the broadest such gathering of this election season to date. Along with state chairmen and key figures like Davidson will be several key advisors to the former "Opposition" movement, which now finds itself seemingly splintered into a thousand little fragments, a mere shell of its former self.

Charlie Smith has had the ear of Davidson before, but came away without winning the key endorsement. Davidson signing on with Smith would be the death knell sounding upon any hopeful candidate looking get in the race, as California would likely be off the table and in Smith's column. All signs from former Real Reform principals Brian Siler and Brent Ludeman, both of whom will attend next weekend's gathering, point to New Jersey's Frank Luna as the current flagbearer. Luna, however, has been reluctant to commit to a run, taking more of a wait and see approach.

Time, especially in this campaign, is of the essence, simply due to the difficulty of getting College Republicans gathered together in large groups to address. Next month’s edition of CPAC is really the only chance for candidates to have the ears of a multitude of CRs from around the country until July’s CRNC Convention. The March 1 kickoff for CPAC is looming right around the corner, and it leaves only a week and a half after this weekend’s California summit to make preparations for a campaign kickoff. That is roughly ten days to book a location for the announcement reception/campaign kickoff event, get campaign collateral designed and printed, develop a platform for the campaign, organize a street team of supporters to get the word out and promote your candidacy, and get a fully-functioning website up and running. Ten days surely creates something of a time squeeze to say the least.

The next twenty five days will be among the most exciting of the spring for anyone following this CRNC campaign, and especially for those actually involved in it. Imagine this schedule for a random state chairman traveling this weekend to California:

Friday afternoon, February 16: Board plane for cross-country flight, plus connections and layovers en route
Friday evening: Dinner with the other attendees
Saturday, February 17: Meetings and discussions all day
Saturday night or Sunday: Board plane for return trip home
Monday through Friday (2/19-2/23): Classes, midterms, and state federation business
Saturday, February 24 and Sunday, February 25: In the case of Ohio’s Brian Siler, a Leadership Institute YLS and Ohio Board Meeting
Monday through Wednesday (2/26-2/28): Classes, midterms, preparing to travel to DC.
Wednesday afternoon through Thursday early morning: depart for CPAC, hotel check-in, CPAC registration
Thursday through Saturday (March 1-3): CPAC itself, all state federation gatherings, CRNC events, and any other meetings scheduled
Sunday morning, March 4: depart DC for home

In any case, this race will take shape over the next twenty-five odd days, and we will work here to keep you updated on every twist, every turn, every little bit of information that you need to know.

Boehner speaks to high school and college crowd in hometown

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) spoke in the city he calls home in Ohio's 8th District this morning to a crowd of high school and college students gathered at Westchester's Lakota West High School. The event was organized by Lakota senior Parker Novak, who is also a member of the SOB Alliance (Viking Spirit Blog) and is a very involved GOP grassroots worker in Southwest Ohio. Boehner spoke for about 25 minutes to the assembled crowd and covered several topics currently being debated in Congress. Boehner mused that Republicans largely lost control due to a combination of factors, but that too many of his colleagues valued re-election more than real results. Rep. Boehner urged finding solutions that lead to success in Iraq, lest the terrorists follow US troops home, and he spoke generally about developing a new group of Republican solutions to the problems being faced here at home with entitlement programs and fiscal matters.
More pertinent to College Republicans reading this would be the attendance of OCRF Chairman Brian Siler, and the surprise appearance of Morgan Wilkins, candidate for KFCR Chairman. One must wonder if anything was discussed between them, but to the best of our knowledge, the two do not see eye-to-eye on matters of consequence. This probably bodes nothing, but it still an interesting encounter.

Buckeye State Breakdown

This past weekend, the state board of the Ohio College Republican Federation gathered, and a few things of note came out of the meeting:

-Ohio will be holding a party/event at CPAC to rival MaineFest, although the two events will not be held at the same time to allow you, Joe CR, and you, pompous jackass (better known as Joe State Chairman), to attend both celebrations. Watch your mail for invitations to the gala, likely to be held at either Stars & Stripes or Hawk & Dove.

-It appears as well that Ohio will be a large presence again at CPAC with chapters attending the meeting reporting at least 300 Ohio CRs are making plans to attend the annual convention.

-Bids were entertained for the upcoming OCRF Convention, to be held in mid-April, and three separate bids were submitted to the board: Bowling Green State University, University of Akron, and a collaborative effort between Ohio State, Columbus State, and Otterbein College, three Columbus-area schools. The collaborators are seeking to bring 2007's convention to Downtown Columbus and were reportedly the only bidders ready to present said bid. A source has informed us that a website will soon be up and running to promote the effort.

-Keen listeners at the meeting noted the seeming annointment of a hand-picked successor to Chairman Brian Siler, and we will report more on this development as it unfolds.

-We at Red State Rampage would like to congratulate two of the newly elected Chapter Chairmen in Ohio: Natalie Brown of Franciscan University of Steubenville and Mary Estock of The Ohio State University. Best of luck to both of them in the next year, and a special thanks to outgoing FUS Chairman Billy Valentine and outgoing OSU Chairman Matt Kocsan for their service to their chapters, and the state organization itself.

New Mexico's Marshall signs on to Real Reform

New Mexico's Dusty Marshall can be added to the growing list of people endorsing Real Reform, as he is now listed on the website as a supporter of Real Reform. It appears that Blake Harris of Alabama and Charlie Smith of Colorado have now joined the Support Real Reform Facebook group, as well, but there is no word on whether the two will be making any move further than this purely ceremonial gesture. Also, in a related development, it appears that the idea of a Unity platform is dead in the water, so you can scratch the two websites I told you about yesterday. It appears that this race will now be one run on records, since everyone is supporting reform like it is going out of style. Just my opinion, but it is tough to see Brian Siler losing a race purely on record (although a pure race is impossible to imagine).