Straight Talk From Alabama

I like Rick Barber's message!

DJOU TAKES OBAMA'S HOMETOWN CONGRESSIONAL SEAT -- NRCC NOT INVOLVED.

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"This is a momentous day. We have sent a message to the United States Congress. We have sent a message to the ex-governors. We have sent a message to the national Democrats. We have sent a message to the machine. We have told them, that we will not stand idly by as our great nation is burdened by too much taxes and too much wasteful spending" said Representative-elect Djou in front of hundreds of supporters at Republican headquarters in Honolulu."

John McCain Losing Campaign Staffers Faster Than He Flip Flops On Positions

And if you've seen his "Build the dang fence" commercial, that's pretty damn fast.

Sen. John McCain's re-election bid lost its campaign manager and another veteran Republican official, part of a shake-up for the Arizona lawmaker locked in a tight primary race with radio host and former Rep. J.D. Hayworth.

The pair of GOP hands—who started before Hayworth entered the race—will instead work on the Republican National Committee's effort in Arizona. Campaign spokesman Brian Rogers said neither Shiree Verdone nor Mike Hellon, a former Arizona GOP chairman, were fired.

"Senator McCain is very grateful for all that Shiree and Mike have done to launch the re-election campaign and establish it on a firm footing and looks forward to working closely with them for victory in November," Rogers said in a statement.

McCain, his party's 2008 presidential nominee, drew a Republican primary challenge that has forced him to the right. The one-time champion of a moderate, bipartisan approach to immigration now is running ads demanding Washington finish "the danged fence" he once mocked.

Four Reasons Why Crist Will Lose

It's always dangerous to get close to a backstabber. The news that Charlie Crist won't refund contributions he received from Republican donors inspired me to explain why Crist's independent campaign is doomed:

• Crist will get no more Republican money. Fundraising is crucial to politics, and there are no direct-mail lists of "raging moderates" who will donate to an independent Crist campaign. It was estimated in late April that Crist quit the GOP race with $6 million cash-on-hand. Based on his previous "burn rate," he's unlikely to have half that amount remaining by Labor Day. Florida is a large state where running TV ads statewide (from Miami to Orlando to Jacksonville to Pensacola) is very expensive. Crist will get buried under an avalanche of TV ads in September and October.
• Crist has no campaign "ground game" infrastructure. Who will be county chairmen and precinct captains for Crist? Where will he find volunteers to staff local offices, working the phones and handing out yard signs? Crist must build a campaign apparatus from scratch, while Rubio will have the well-established election machinery of the Republican Party working for him. As Rubio's senior advisors said in a memo last month, "Florida’s county GOP offices are some of the most organized and sophisticated in the country . . . Crist will be starting from scratch to recruit, organize and mobilize volunteers for his campaign, whereas both Marco and [Democratic candidate Kendrick] Meek will have built-in volunteer networks to draw from."
• Nobody trusts a traitor. And nobody respects a quitter, as Arlen Specter is belatedly learning. Like Specter's switch to the Democrats, Crist's decision to go independent was pure selfishness. Crist had expected his handpicked state GOP chairman Jim Greer to deliver the Senate nomination on a silver platter, and when that didn't happen, Crist decided to take his ball and go home. Think of how that lends itself to a devastating 30-second TV ad.
• Rubio will win the debates. For nearly a year, Crist avoided debating Rubio. Once they finally met in a debate -- March 28 on "Fox News Sunday" -- it was obvious why, and Crist quit the GOP primary less than a month later. At some point this fall, Crist will have to share a debate stage with Rubio and the Democrat, Meek. Charlie will lose that debate, too, for the simple reason that there is no persuasive political rationale for Crist's candidacy. If Florida voters want an Obama-hugging, stimulus-endorsing, liberal stooge for Harry Reid, they'll support Kendrick Meek.

And any Republican operative who hires on with the Crist campaign is committing career suicide. Working for a RINO is bad enough, but working for an ex-RINO loser . . . well, that's what pilots call an "unrecoverable error."

MARCO RUBIO FOR U.S. SENATE

Tea Party Bags Bob Bennett!

Utah's sitting senator, Bob Bennett, lost his  bid for re-election after being eliminated in the second round of balloting at the GOP state convention, the AP is reporting.

"It's time to get rid of the incumbents," said Kyle Hosman, a 39-year-old North Ogden delegate supporting (GOP candidate Mike) Lee. "Quite frankly I'm disgusted by what I've seen in Congress the past 10 years."

The defining trend of this election as a referendum on incumbency itself continues.

Hat tip: Moe Lane