Harrison County Lincoln Day dinner

I enjoyed myself there on Sunday evening. (Thanks for the invite!) It was a long evening, but it was good to see some old campaign comrades-- and it was always at least modestly interesting.

Good news for the GOP: The event was heavily attended-- even in a year without any elections. (It sounded like it might have been record attendance-- or at least the most in recent memory.) Although this sort of thing doesn't speak to the views and passions of the rank-and-file GOP'ers or independent voters, it was clear that the faithful are fired up about the current state of affairs.

Good news #2 for the local/state GOP: As I found throughout my campaign activities, rank-and-file Republicans-- and their state/local office-holders and candidates-- continue to be fiscally and socially conservative. Local and state officials must be more fiscally conservative, since they can't print money and it's more difficult to borrow it too.

Good news #3 for the Harrison County GOP: It is obvious that they have a lot of genuine, hard-working people-- under the energetic leadership of Scott Fluhr (with able assistance from Lori Davis and others). The future seems bright for local politics in Harrison Co.-- and I wish them well in their battles with the Dems.

The bad news: Most of the excitement-- at the national level-- was negative and directed at Obama, Pelosi and Reid. Much of that might be chalked up to the nature of the event: looking for easy, excited responses from the crowd, Obama & Co. certainly provide a target-rich environment.

Only one speaker, Billy Bright-- the former state Rep who has some role in helping to recruit GOP state legislature candidates for 2010-- seemed to have a clue that our current national problems should be, first, laid at the feet of President Bush and his Republican Congresses. (I think that one of the three announced candidates for the 9th District U.S. House seat-- Travis Hankins-- also made overtures in that direction. In any case, his presentation was fresh and his substance was outstanding! He was the only congressional candidate to stay below his allotted time-- another good sign: if he can't spend your time well, it's less likely that he'll spend your money well, yes?)

Without repentance, the national GOP is unlikely to turn back to "conservative" principles with enough vigor. Without repentance, the national GOP's newfound claim to fiscal conservatism will (rightly) be seen as hypocrisy and partisan politics.

Politically, at least at the national level, bashing Obama will probably not be enough. In any case, for the good of the country, the GOP needs to develop a positive agenda at the national level. If what I saw on Sunday on national politics-- and what I've seen from the party nationally so far-- are indicative, I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon.

Local/state GOP'ers have already suffered much at the hands of the national party-- in the blow-outs of 2006 and 2008. The saddest part of this is that good local/state GOP'ers may continue to pay for the sins of their national counterparts.