Peter Schiff's republican primary opponents if he decides to run for US Senate (CT)

[MRoCkEd]

Republican candidates and potential candidates for Senate (CT) 2010

Announced:
* Former Congressman Rob Simmons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Simmons)
* State Senator Sam Caligiuri (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Caligiuri)
* Thomas C. Foley (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_C._Foley), former United States Ambassador to Ireland
Potential:
* Jack Orchulli (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Orchulli), Darien businessman and 2004 senate nominee
* Peter Schiff (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Schiff)http://www.ronpaulforums.com/gfx_RedWhiteBlue/icons/icon14.gifhttp://www.ronpaulforums.com/gfx_RedWhiteBlue/icons/icon14.gif


http://www.joinrobsimmons.com/img/robsimm/rob-simmons-header.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Simmons (www.joinrobsimmons.com)


http://www.samforussenate.com/images/logo.pnghttp://www.samforussenate.com/images/sam.png (www.samforussenate.com)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Caligiuri

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/1168/picture1lrb.png
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_C._Foley

[SamuraisWisdom]

Rob Simmons will be the biggest challenge. He's very well known for being a representative in Congress for a while. I think the best way to combat any of them would be to slam them with the financial meltdown because I'm pretty sure Schiff was the only one who spoke out at all about it.

[FSP-Rebel]

Oh brother, Caligiuri is trying to use his women to get elected... Not a bad tactic. Where's Peter's chick? Maybe we should chipin on something/someone. I'm only joking people...

[Jeremy]

Maybe the neocon vote will be split between those two ;)

[Brassmouth]

Need I remind you people that Connecticut is a New England state, and thus, extremely unlikely to elect a Republican, Schiff or not?

[gls]

Need I remind you people that Connecticut is a New England state, and thus, extremely unlikely to elect a Republican, Schiff or not?

Normally you would be correct but Chris Dodd is currently plagued with scandal. In fact, in a hypothetical poll released yesterday between Simmons and Dodd, Simmons was up 45-39 percent. http://blogs.courant.com/capitol_watch/2009/05/rob-simmons-leads-chris-dodd-i.html

[Austin]

Need I remind you people that Connecticut is a New England state, and thus, extremely unlikely to elect a Republican, Schiff or not?

Most voters right now are single issue (economy) or nature of the times.

Schiff will undoubtedly win any debate on the economy, especially considering his predictions and Dodd's involvement.

Also, Dodd has incredibly low approval ratings and has been called out his involvement with Fannie/Freddie and AIG.

[nobody's_hero]

Need I remind you people that Connecticut is a New England state, and thus, extremely unlikely to elect a Republican, Schiff or not?

Yeah, but you could say the same about most "republican" states. :( Here in Georgia, liberty candidate Ray McBerry is already being singled out as a kook because he made some truthful comments about states' rights.

Besides, if a few liberals accidentally listen to Peter during the debates and decide that he makes sense, it wouldn't have been a completely wasted effort.

[kathy88]

Oh brother, Caligiuri is trying to use his women to get elected... Not a bad tactic. Where's Peter's chick? Maybe we should chipin on something/someone. I'm only joking people...


yeah, but it's kinda raunchy to use your daughter :)

[AndrewSica]

I'd add that the Republicans are currently ahead of Dodd according to polls (for what those are worth).

Both are pro-war, and Simmons is a complete neo-con. That will not go over well in Connecticut.

Simmons only believes what typical Keynesian economists say, and Caliguiri probably can't even spell economics. Schiff will destroy them if given a chance to debate them.

Further, Schiff will appeal to the center / center-left when it comes to his stance on the war. If he can get past the GOP primary and the pro-war right, I think he's got a damn good shot.

[No1ButPaul08]

Need I remind you people that Connecticut is a New England state, and thus, extremely unlikely to elect a Republican, Schiff or not?

Connecticut is SO Democrat that they have a popular Republican governor and in 2006 3 of their 5 US Reps were Republicans.

[He Who Pawns]

Simmons and Foley are but shills for the Military Industrial Complex.

Schiff needs to drop A LOT of money in the primary, stressing his "unmatched expertise" in business and economics. Simmons appears to have no business experience, other than helping to land government contracts for military manufacturers in his district.

A couple of well-placed, hard-hitting "contrast" adds against Simmons as a "Washington insider" who was clueless on the economic collapse and who has a history of lobbying ties to defense firms seeking lucrative government contracts, etc, should be enough to take Simmons down a few notches.

Schiff should mix his negative economic message with "solutions" to "quickly restore true prosperity"... and so on.

[itshappening]

"We dont need to replace ONE lobbyist with ANOTHER lobbyist"

should do the trick against Simmons?

[MRoCkEd]

"We dont need to replace ONE lobbyist with ANOTHER lobbyist"

should do the trick against Simmons?
I like that.
Also, here's a related story from politcallore


Economist and Owner of EuroPacific Capital, Peter Schiff is expected to announce his bid for the Connecticut US Senate Seat currently held by Democrat Chris Dodd in the coming weeks.

But before Schiff would take on Dodd in the general election he would first have to win the Republican primary contest.
In this contest Schiff would face Republican challengers Rob Simmons and Sam Caligiuri, both of whom have already officially announced their US Senate campaigns.

Sam Caligiuri, generally considered the weaker of the two candidates, is a State Senator in Connecticut that gained some notoriety for being the sole Republican in the Connecticut State Senate to oppose the ’07-’08 budget.

Considered the more formidable candidate Rob Simmons served three terms as the representative from Connecticut’s 2nd district in the US House of representatives. He lost his seat by a razor thin margin in ’06 when the entire Congress shifted to the Democrats.
To give an indication of Simmons early fundraising prowess one needs only to look at a recent Simmons twitter post boasting how he raised $3K online in 36 hours from 30 people.

The fact that Simmons would boast about such a meager sum does not bode well for him against the independently wealthy Peter Schiff who has fund raising potential nationwide.

But despite not being a fund raising powerhouse, Simmons does lead Christopher Dodd in an extremely early poll by Quinnipiac University. In the poll released today Simmons leads Dodd by 6 points 45% to Dodd’s 39%. However this lead is down from the 25 point lead Simmons held over Dodd in early April, shortly after the AIG scandal.

The fact is that these polls mean very little other than to show that Chris Dodd has very low approval numbers and is likely to face a serious challenge from whoever emerges the victor from the GOP primary.

The key to the GOP primary will likely be how high on Connecticut’s agenda the economy ranks 14 months from now. If the economy is still in waiting for a recovery, which is the likely scenario, then Schiff will be able to argue his case quite convincingly that he saw the crisis coming and therefore he should be given a chance to help the Federal government do the right thing.

Simmons will likely have to rely on outside help, aka the RNC (via the RNC’s coffers and surrogates), to stand a chance against Schiff. Schiff has a national television presence on cable news, his campaign coffers will be overflowing not only from his own wealth but from his nation wide base of supporters. You can watch the YouTube video that earned him a cult following here He is an expert on the predominant issue of the time, the economy. And finally he is a great communicator who has a wealth of experience arguing his points with clarity, conviction and sometimes a dash of humor.

I would look for Peter Schiff to officially announce his candidacy on the Daily Show on June 9th when he is scheduled to be a guest. Such a move would send a message not only to his fellow GOP opponents, but also to Chris Dodd just what caliber of a candidate he is.
Keep in mind that this is extremely early and broad analysis while the general election is still 17 months away, but check back in often as PoliticalLore.com will be following this race closely and covering and analyzing every last detail from now until the very end.

[AndrewSica]

I like that.
Also, here's a related story from politcallore

The Daily Show is a dangerous spot for Schiff to announce. Give the nature of the show, I wouldn't put it past Stewart to pull some ridiculous stunt to try and sabotage Peter during his appearance.

[MRoCkEd]

The Daily Show is a dangerous spot for Schiff to announce. Give the nature of the show, I wouldn't put it past Stewart to pull some ridiculous stunt to try and sabotage Peter during his appearance.
Yeah - I don't think he plans to announce there anyway. The best place would be on Glenn Beck.

[MRoCkEd]

Even though these are from the Democratic Committee, they are good anti-Rob Simmons ads:
YouTube - Rob Simmons: True To His Colors (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkyRw7kfi04)
YouTube - Rob Simmons: I'm sorry, it's over (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMFOptPBB7k)

[He Who Pawns]

Yeah, see, those are good adds -- they go after Simmons as a Washington insider who does the bidding of lobbyists, not the people.

Haha, Peter is getting free attack ads against this clown already, thanks to the Dems.

[eduardo89]

If he wins the primary, I think we should be in the clear(doesn't mean the battle will be over though), the Dems have really destroyed their name after Dodd...

[MRoCkEd]

Peter Schiff should be able to blow this guy out of the water in fundraising.

We raised $3K online in 36 hours from 30 people.
lol

[He Who Pawns]

3K fell out of Peter's pocket when he boarded the private jet to Dubai.

[MRoCkEd]

3K fell out of Peter's pocket when he boarded the private jet to Dubai.
He noticed, but didn't bother to stop and pick it up. :p

[Dreamofunity]

Does anyone have an estimate of Peter's networth?

[Nathan Hale]

Need I remind you people that Connecticut is a New England state, and thus, extremely unlikely to elect a Republican, Schiff or not?

Connecticut is also a very WEALTHY state, and his message of "take the recession now to avoid the depression later" resonates with those of have a lot of money.

[He Who Pawns]

Does anyone have an estimate of Peter's networth?

My guess would be $25 million? I don't think anyone really knows. He's said that most of his wealth is tied up in his firm. In terms of his liquid assets and investments, he says about half are in gold and gold stocks right now.

[MRoCkEd]

It's interesting how neither Caligiuri nor Simmons has an "issues" page.

[He Who Pawns]

It's interesting how neither Caligiuri nor Simmons has an "issues" page.

Raytheon lobbyists are still busy writing them.

[No1ButPaul08]

Looks like we have another primary challenger

http://blogs.courant.com/capitol_watch/2009/06/greenwich-republican-tom-foley.html

http://www.tomfoley2010.com/

[MRoCkEd]

Looks like we have another primary challenger

http://blogs.courant.com/capitol_watch/2009/06/greenwich-republican-tom-foley.html

http://www.tomfoley2010.com/

Added to OP.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_C._Foley

[He Who Pawns]

One good thing about multiple GOP opponents is that the other guys will split the existing "big money" institutional donations, and water themselves down. Meanwhile, Schiff can fund himself, so this works to Schiff's advantage.

[No1ButPaul08]

From what i can gather Foley is a rich buddy of GW Bush. He chaired both of his Presidential campaigns in CT. He was also appointed to an economic post in Iraq and then ambassador to Ireland. He won't have any problems raising money, he's a multimillionaire himself. His biggest problem will be erasing the stink that is George W. Bush.

[He Who Pawns]

Do these run-of-the-mill, pro-war, GW Bush-style Republicans really think they can actually win in CT?? These guys are clueless. Even a damaged criminal like Dodd could beat them.

[itshappening]

'In 2003 and 2004, he served as a U.S. government official in Iraq, overseeing businesses and developing a plan for reviving the private sector economy.'

wasn't there a lot of corruption in iraq during that period? a lot of dollars went missing