Warlord
05-19-2013, 03:54 PM
He became a "chief fundraiser" after cheese and crackers. Bless him. He must feel really important.
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Lamar Alexander has an inventive way of fending off potential primary foes, one that could be a model for GOP incumbents running in 2014.
Just ask Monty Lankford, who threatened to challenge Alexander in a 2014 primary. On a recent afternoon, the Tennessee Republican met Lankford’s family at their home outside of Nashville, then sat down with his one-time foe for iced tea and cheese and crackers. The result: Lankford joined Alexander’s campaign team as its co-chairman and a chief fundraiser.
The iced tea summit is indicative of the new, more aggressive tactics being employed by Republican senators to fend off primary foes in 2014. Instead of waiting for insurgents to catch them asleep at the switch, GOP incumbents running in 2014 — like Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Pat Roberts of Kansas and John Cornyn of Texas — are acting early and proactively to ensure no serious challenger emerges.
“I’m running a Colin Powell military operation, which is assemble an overwhelming force, focus on a single target and have the stomach to see it all the way through to the end,” Alexander said in an interview.
The recent Washington controversies are giving the senators a unique opportunity to woo the right — whether it’s McConnell’s rhetoric against the Internal Revenue Service, Graham railing at the White House for its handling of the Benghazi attacks or Alexander slamming Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for soliciting private donations to help with the implementation of Obamacare, comparing the situation to the Iran-Contra scandal.
And some of the senators are finding ways to push issues in Washington that resonate back home, including last week, when the Senate passed a McConnell-Alexander plan they called the Freedom to Fish Act targeting federal restrictions along a river their states share.
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/05/gop-senators-stave-off-primary-foes-91596.html#ixzz2TmIhIE9M
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Lamar Alexander has an inventive way of fending off potential primary foes, one that could be a model for GOP incumbents running in 2014.
Just ask Monty Lankford, who threatened to challenge Alexander in a 2014 primary. On a recent afternoon, the Tennessee Republican met Lankford’s family at their home outside of Nashville, then sat down with his one-time foe for iced tea and cheese and crackers. The result: Lankford joined Alexander’s campaign team as its co-chairman and a chief fundraiser.
The iced tea summit is indicative of the new, more aggressive tactics being employed by Republican senators to fend off primary foes in 2014. Instead of waiting for insurgents to catch them asleep at the switch, GOP incumbents running in 2014 — like Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Pat Roberts of Kansas and John Cornyn of Texas — are acting early and proactively to ensure no serious challenger emerges.
“I’m running a Colin Powell military operation, which is assemble an overwhelming force, focus on a single target and have the stomach to see it all the way through to the end,” Alexander said in an interview.
The recent Washington controversies are giving the senators a unique opportunity to woo the right — whether it’s McConnell’s rhetoric against the Internal Revenue Service, Graham railing at the White House for its handling of the Benghazi attacks or Alexander slamming Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for soliciting private donations to help with the implementation of Obamacare, comparing the situation to the Iran-Contra scandal.
And some of the senators are finding ways to push issues in Washington that resonate back home, including last week, when the Senate passed a McConnell-Alexander plan they called the Freedom to Fish Act targeting federal restrictions along a river their states share.
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/05/gop-senators-stave-off-primary-foes-91596.html#ixzz2TmIhIE9M