PDA

View Full Version : US Rep. Lankford announces run for Tom Coburn's Senate seat




CaseyJones
01-20-2014, 12:40 PM
http://theworldlink.com/news/national/us-rep-lankford-announces-run-for-us-senate-seat/article_816f792a-97b9-56ae-9e15-8798f916fa2f.html




Republican U.S. Rep. James Lankford says he'll run for the U.S. Senate seat left open by U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn's resignation.

Lankford told The Associated Press of his plans Monday, days after Coburn said he will vacate his seat with two years remaining on his term.

A longtime director of a youth summer camp, Lankford was a political unknown when he emerged from a crowded Republican primary field in 2010 to win the U.S. House seat. He won re-election in 2012 and was the only member of Oklahoma's House delegation to not face a GOP primary opponent that year.

On Sunday, Attorney General Scott Pruitt and Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Cole said they wouldn't run for Coburn's seat.

The special election will coincide with the regular election 2014 election cycle.

Anti-Neocon
01-20-2014, 01:05 PM
I take it he's a no-good teocon/neocon. We need anyone to challenge him, even if he's not a big name like a US Representative.

invisible
01-20-2014, 02:32 PM
I take it he's a no-good teocon/neocon. We need anyone to challenge him, even if he's not a big name like a US Representative.

wankford is just another RINO MIC shill, just like cole is. There is a youtube of one of his town halls last summer, where he claimed that he voted against the Amash amendment because it was "unConstitutional" :eek: Yes, there absolutely needs to be someone decent running for the seat. Someone will surely step up if Bridenstine himself doesn't do it, there's plenty of good activism here in OK. I very much so look forward to campaigning for whoever runs against wankford in this primary.

TaftFan
01-20-2014, 02:38 PM
Draft Jim Bridenstine for Senate

https://www.facebook.com/draftjim

CaseyJones
01-20-2014, 02:40 PM
Draft Jim Bridenstine for Senate

https://www.facebook.com/draftjim

Bridenstine is certainly better than Lankford, not a liberty candidate by any means but a step in the right direction

invisible
01-20-2014, 03:18 PM
Bridenstine is certainly better than Lankford, not a liberty candidate by any means but a step in the right direction

July 2013 Freedom Index:
Bridenstine 100%
Mullin 80%
Lucas 60%
cole 56%
wankford 70%

Ratings and endorsements, as per votesmart:
http://votesmart.org/candidate/evaluations/135894/jim-bridenstine#.Ut2Q7ZhMFkg

Yes, he's of a religious conservative bent, but seems to do an excellent job of voting the right way. He's very popular here in OK. Watch the videos of wankford's town hall that I posted in the other thread, lots of people in the audience holding up Bridenstine as the gold standard of OK's Congressional delegation. While he's not Amash by any means, I would certainly count him as being a defender of the Constitution and freedom.

Peace&Freedom
01-20-2014, 05:19 PM
This is a prime example of why a separate, independent liberty grassroots network should be up and running in all states. Instead of the dominant party in the area (in the case of OK, the GOP) being able to instantly put up a neocon replacement for an open seat with no organized competition, we should have a bank of reasonably liberty-minded contenders ready to pounce upon this opening.

There should already be some early money already available to donate to our candidate to make the raising of substantial subsequent funds likely. Can Bridenstone raise funds to compete with Lankford? Does he have unaligned Tea Party supporters excited about him? Those kind of basic considerations can only be taken care of by having a machine of our own, whose engine is already running to get a liberty campaign started in cases like these, without waiting for permission by a party apparatus to get our person in position to win a special election.

invisible
01-20-2014, 06:07 PM
This is a prime example of why a separate, independent liberty grassroots network should be up and running in all states. Instead of the dominant party in the area (in the case of OK, the GOP) being able to instantly put up a neocon replacement for an open seat with no organized competition, we should have a bank of reasonably liberty-minded contenders ready to pounce upon this opening.

There should already be some early money already available to donate to our candidate to make the raising of substantial subsequent funds likely. Can Bridenstone raise funds to compete with Lankford? Does he have unaligned Tea Party supporters excited about him? Those kind of basic considerations can only be taken care of by having a machine of our own, whose engine is already running to get a liberty campaign started in cases like these, without waiting for permission by a party apparatus to get our person in position to win a special election.


There absolutely IS a separate, independent liberty grassroots network here in OK. However, it is not centralized, and there are several different groups which overlap. Because of this, it is impossible to instantly dredge up a candidate in the same way that the establishment does. There absolutely IS a bank of excellent potential candidates here. It's just a matter of who will decide to run, and in what election. It will take at least some amount of time for that to be figured out, but be assured, it will happen. I do agree that it would be better if that process took place in advance, so those potential candidates were already "in place and ready to pounce". But that is very difficult to do without a central organization. I will do my best to provide updates here as I get them. And of course, there are several other Okies here on RPF who have been here in OK much longer than I have, know different people in different areas of the state, and also have extremely valuable insight.

Yes, Bridenstine absolutely can raise funds on a competitive basis with wankford. He will have the backing of outside conservative organizations that wankford will not. However, wankford will have the MIC backing him, and that is always difficult to compete with in any election. Bridenstine is VERY popular here. People aren't terribly happy with wankford, as the videos of his town hall show. Bridenstine absolutely has the tea party behind him, to my knowledge that was a large part of him being elected in the first place.

I contend that OK will end up having one of the most important, if not the most important, midterm elections in the country. There is more at stake here in OK than anywhere else:
Governor (already a Ron Paul supporter running)
Senator
Congress (wankford's seat, and potentially Bridenstine's seat as well if he decides to run)
State Legislature (already at least 2 Ron Paul supporters running)
So there is a chance to pick up a Governor's seat, a Senator, two Congressmen (Bridenstine's re-election or the seat he will vacate), plus State Legislature seats. That sort of opportunity does not exist anywhere else in this round of midterms!

outspoken
01-20-2014, 06:16 PM
Was there any relationship between Coburn and Ron Paul? Tom is/ was pretty outspoken about waste in govt and seemed to advocate shrinking govt, and they were both from Texas. however, I don't recall him and RP teaming up on anything. I just wonder what they thought of each other, any thoughts??