Chris Stearns RNC Delegate and RP campaign coordinator running for Senate in VA

[sailingaway]

http://www.dailypaul.com/283527/liberty-candidate-for-virginia-state-senate-needs-your-help#comment-3056556

repost of original post


Hey all liberty activists!

We have a liberty candidate in Virginia running for Virginia State Senate, Christopher Stearns. Chris was a National Delegate to the RNC in Tampa, worked as the Virginia state coordinator for Ron Paul during 2012, is Virginia's 3rd Congressional District Chairman and has been actively involved in grassroots politics for several years now.

Chris is running against an Establishment Republican. Chris Stearns is a fellow Ron Paul supporter and has been a strong defender of limited constitutional government, and as you might expect, big government special interests have already started lining up to bring him down. As someone from Virginia said of this race: "Christopher Stearns is a great guy who has already had a real impact on Virginia politics. His opponent is an old fashioned establishment Republican who is a problem for us in the House, we don't need him in the Senate."

The primary is May 9th, so Chris needs all the help he can get! Spread the word to help raise funds for Chris.

Visit Chris' website & donate: http://www.stearnsforsenate.com/

[Okaloosa]

http://www.stearnsforsenate.com/

Please make a donation if you can.

I will give positive reps for all posts with a receipt from a donation.

[Mr.NoSmile]

Primary is May 9th? Bit of close to last minute mentioning on their part, seems like. But I don't know what ground work is like over in VA and whether Stearns has the backing, so I could be wrong.

[Krzysztof Lesiak]

Good luck.

[Lightweis]

;) good fight mr. Stearns. get em next time!

[archer1600]

1361 Cosgrove.
551 Stearns

Learn from this loss. See how you can do better and get ready for the next election.

[Okaloosa]

Analysis of the election and hopefully some lessons learned to beat the establishment in the future.

http://bearingdrift.com/2013/05/10/cosgrove-romps-over-rand-paulnagr-backed-candidate/

Cosgrove romps over Rand Paul/NAGR-backed candidate
By Brian Kirwin | Friday, May 10th, 2013 | Politics


In what can only be called a buttkicking of Biblical proportions, Del. John Cosgrove took the Tea Party, Sen. Rand Paul, Ron Paul, a false-attack-filled gun group and GOP District Chairman and blasted them so far over the fence, they’re still chasing the ball.

Cosgrove almost tripled the vote of Chris Stearns in a firehouse primary, a method of nomination thought to be friendly to Tea Party candidates. The losing campaign was astroturf-a-plenty, as the Paul-backed Stearns moved into the district prior to filing, and blanketed the district with attack mail. Out-of-towners showed up to knock on doors.

Out-of-staters Ron Paul and Sen. Rand Paul endorsed Stearns, and the fledgling “National Association for Gun Rights,” until now only known for launching false attacks on Congressmen like House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Scott Rigell, launched another untrue one against Del. John Cosgrove through direct mail.

Ron and Rand Paul and this phony gun group share an egg-faced breakfast this morning.

It’s hard not to see this as a trend. Three days ago, another Virginia firehouse primary was lost by the Tea Party, as Botetourt County supervisor Terry Austin sent Tea-backed Jim McKelvey packing.

And last fall, 6 Tea Party-backed candidates launched a team campaign assault to win Virginia Beach local government seats. They went 0 for 6.

But the Cosgrove-Stearns shellacking hurts the most. This time, they spent major money on direct mail, had the low turnout they supposedly could perform the best in, and had the direct involvement of PACs and the revered Pauls.

Granted, I was part of the Cosgrove team and live in the 14th District (those two things seemed to go together). But there are a few things worth mentioning:

1) Out-of-town negatives don’t work. Cosgrove’s A-plus rating with the NRA trumped advertising with misleading attacks from NAGR. Local voters knew Cosgrove enough to know the attacks were false.

2) Astroturf loses – Distant endorsements, distant money, distant attacks and a team of volunteers that spends weekends in hotels can not defeat a locally-grown campaign of neighbors with local ties to the community.

3) Be for something – Stearns’ campaign mail was completely negative from the outset. Stearns did nothing to build himself up. That gave Cosgrove, who actually polled with high name ID and popularity, the opening to respond in kind. When the smoke cleared, Stearns had built up no positives – just a reputation as a negative campaigner.

4) Social conservatism ain’t done yet – Republican primary voters are still social conservatives, and as much as the Democrats wish we don’t discuss God and Country, social issues are supremely important to Christian voters who know who to vote for and turn out in droves.

Ron Paul has made a career out of losing. Voters may recall how he spent 1988 attacking Ronald Reagan when Paul tried to become President and barely won a neighborhood. His crushing defeats in 2008 and 2012, where he never won a single primary election, didn’t exactly rewrite the book on election strategy, unless the title is “Attack, say Liberty, and Lose.”

That Sen. Rand Paul, a presidential hopeful, and that faux-gun PAC were so non-influentual casts a giant shadow on their effectiveness at a grassroots level.

With the Republican Convention for Virginia candidates a week away, and the Tea Party actively tied to at least three campaigns, one wonders if candidates should be seeking Tea Party support or steering clear in hopes of avoiding being added to the Latest Loser column.

One thing is clear. You better bring a lot more to the dance than attack ads, PACs and Pauls.

[Okaloosa]

More Post Election Analysis

http://vapolitics.us/2013/05/post-eleciton-analysis-cosgrove-v-stearns/

Well, it’s over…..it’s over…..it’s over……No, not talking about the cheesy Lover Boy song from the 80′s, but the 14th Senate District Republican Party Canvass John Cosgrove versus Chris Stearns. Yes, it happened one week ago tonight. No, it’s not old news but rather cathartic to write about it tonight—on the one week anniversary of the canvass.

FIRST ROUND:

About eight days out from election day I thought Chris Stearns had framed the debate around taxes and Delegate Cosgrove’s vote in favor of the Governor’s Transportation Bill. Stearns and his campaign team hit the ground running and did what they needed to do in the initial stages of the race. Stearns quickly mailed out a few pieces of mail into the District that focused on Cosgrove’s vote to raise money for transportation. Stearns got off the first few rabbit punches to the body. Early advantage Stearns–he won the first round. Keep reading, there were three rounds in this bout. Problem is that Stearns didn’t KO Cosgrove in the First.

SECOND ROUND:

Meanwhile, over in Camp Cosgrove….Christy Craig and her team of experienced grass roots activists worked the phones night after night after night. They were calling out to friends and Republicans across the District in a steady methodical fashion. Cosgrove and Co. reached out to the Chesapeake, Isle of Wight, and Suffolk networks comprised of elected officials, party activists et al. Those networks mobilized for Cosgrove in a big way on election night….Cosgrove & Co. took the punches and while simultaneously laying the foundation for a huge third round. Round Two ends in a split decision.

THIRD ROUND:

The last week of the campaign and the last round of the Republican nomination fight in the 14th Senate District. The stakes are huge. Will the Liberty movement actually win a GOP nomination contest in a safe Republican District where the outcome of the Republican nomination race all but ensures the victor in the special election? Could this well be the Liberty movement’s capstone achievement working alongside the Tea Parties in Chesapeake, Suffolk, a sliver Virginia Beach, Isle of Wight, Franklin/Southampton County, and the Churchland area of Portsmouth? Were they gaining traction against a well known incumbent?

During the last week of the campaign, the various political networks in Chesapeake, Suffolk, and Isle of Wight were now fully activated and were reaching out to voters on behalf of Cosgrove’s campaign. City Council members, School Board Members, Constitutional Officers, Delegates, Senators, the NRA, and the big daddy himself, Congressman Forbes. Cosgrove delivered punishing body blows, right hooks, jabs…the shots kept landing squarely on Stearns’ chin. Camp Cosgrove sent out a SCHA-WHEAT comparison contrast mail piece that hit district mailboxes a day or two prior to the election. The issues? Cosgrove is a Christian and Stearns is an Agnostic. Cosgrove wants to keep marijuana illegal and Stearns wants to legalize it. Cosgrove has lived in the District for a long time and Stearns just moved into the District just to run for office.

Big endorsements in this race? Stearns had Tea Party founder Jamie Radtke, Virginia’s RNC representative Morton Blackwell, former Rep. Ron Paul, and Senator Rand Paul (R-KY). Cosgrove had Congressman Randy Forbes, the entire Chesapeake elected delegation of Republicans, Delegate Chris Jones (R-Suffolk) Delegate Rick Morris (R-Isle of Wight), and the GOP Unit Chairmen to include: Pete Burkheimer in Chesapeake; Steve Trent in Suffolk; Walt Brown in the City of Franklin/Southampton County, and Bill Coburn in Isle of Wight.

On election night, Stearns won Portsmouth and the silver of Virginia Beach that’s in this Senate District. Cosgrove won HUGE in Chesapeake and Suffolk and pulled out wins in Franklin/Southampton County and Isle of Wight. Cosgrove won with 71% of the vote and Cosgrove won every jurisdiction that is also located within the boundaries of the 4th Congressional District. In a few post mortems of this race, some folks have said don’t read into the results. Right. I’m gonna do that right here with this: the Ron Paul movement in the Virginia GOP got it handed to them in this nomination fight in the 14th Senate District. They didn’t sneak up on anybody this time. The common sense conservative troops were ready, prepared, and engaged. Round Three? Cosgrove wins by KNOCKOUT. Religious voters and social conservative voters still matter in Virginia GOP nomination contests….and they clearly wanted a candidate that best fits their beliefs which are: 1.) God and 2.) keeping marijuana illegal. The best way to drive a wedge between the Paul Movement and the Tea Party Supporters? Moral issues….it drives a good many Tea Partiers back to the Common Sense Conservative Wing of the Party. Cosgrove’s election, and the issues he successfully ran on, proves this theory to be correct. With that said (and to his credit), Stearns did endorse Cosgrove for the upcoming special election in August.

I’ll end this post with this vignette: I sat a few people away from Chris Stearns during the Credentials Committee Meeting of the 2012 Virginia Republican Party State Convention. During this meeting we interviewed the folks who applied to be Delegates to attend the Republican National Convention in Florida. Stearns was pushing his slate of Libertarian Republicans to attend the National Convention and I was instead pushing back for more Romney Delegates to attend the Convention. During our “discussion,” I congratulated Chris Stearns on his successful efforts working with the Cuccinelli/Tea Party/Radtke Coalition to take over all of the Congressional District Republican Committees in the State… except for those in the 4th, 7th, and 9th Congressional Districts. Stearns then told me that he wished he spent more time in the 4th Congressional District [to take it over as well]. After last week, Stearns probably wishes he spent more time in the 14th Senate District as well. See ya’ll at the convention this weekend. Free Liberty for all. How’s that? It’s been paid for by the active duty military who are not allowed to participate and vote for our Republican nominees at this week’s convention. My name is Wayne Ozmore but please call me Bubba–the man in the arena.

[lib3rtarian]

As always, it boils down to this - there just isn't enough of us, and even the ones who are usually feel having to deal with politics is beneath them and refuse to participate in the electoral process.

[sailingaway]

thanks for the updates.

[FSP-Rebel]

As always, it boils down to this - there just isn't enough of us, and even the ones who are usually feel having to deal with politics is beneath them and refuse to participate in the electoral process.
True but then they should ask themselves what they've done for their posterity in relation to govt' interactions. Hey, I've bitched a lot so I've done my part!!:rolleyes: Also, by not mobilizing alongside their active counterparts, they're sabotaging their efforts which allows those who we're all against to win the day, again.

Also, I can't believe Rand put his name on this considering that Stearns started campaigning so late for this race and had a piss poor ground game from what I can tell. We had a lot better operation going during the Bentivolio campaign.