Vote Down the Ballot

Vote Down the Ballot
By Randy A. Samuelson

Early voting for the March primary begins next week in Texas. While many believe the top of the ticket is already decided and is uninspiring towards fiscal conservatives, the Republican base still needs to turn out in support of our down ballot conservatives in contested races.

Because of the low turnout that is expected, many conservative candidates will not fare well in their down ballot elections for County, State Legislative, and Congressional races. This will hurt our chances of holding or gaining conservative representation in the general election even harder.

In 2006, because of the lackluster top of the ticket in the general election, Republicans stayed home statewide. This allowed the Democrats to win back many State House seats and County races in places like Dallas and Tarrant Counties. I call the 2006 election the “Dallas Massacre” as Democrats in Dallas won nearly every down ballot race in the county. This was all due to voter apathy among conservative Republicans.

We conservatives are spending so much time complaining about John McCain that we are forgetting that Bill Zedler, Betty Brown, and Doc Anderson all have primary opponents. If our conservative base does not get out to support these incumbent conservatives, along with others like Bryan Daniel, Mike Pearce, and Randy Dunning, we have nobody to blame but ourselves when the State Legislature increases taxes and spending in 2009.

Remember to vote down the ballot for conservatives down the ballot in the 2008 primary! Voter apathy is the friend of bureaucrats and liberals.