The NRCC shuns a Republican Tea Party-backed House candidate

By Lee Cary –

While running as a Republican for the U.S. House of Representatives, Chris Wolfe found out that those presumed to be political allies can be neutral, if not downright adversarial.

Chris ran as an experienced local politician in a contested primary election and beat the G.O.P. candidate chosen by the county and state Republican establishment.

It happened in a Congressional District where the long-time incumbent Democrat was the odds-on favorite to win re-election. So it wasn’t a case where G.O.P. officials assumed they were picking the next member of Congress from that district, and that the winner need only be able to fog a mirror.

Instead, their task should have been to pick the best candidate to make the best showing, win or lose. But it wasn’t.

The G.O.P. local and state-level apparatchiks’ aim was to put up a candidate they could control, and not embarrass them by taking positions outside of the “moderate” range of the Republican Party they represent in that blue state.

Plus, that candidate needed to be someone whose campaign they could control.

In short, their objective was to make a token showing against the deeply-entrenched Democrat incumbent with a non-confrontational, non-controversial moderate Republican candidate.

Chris didn’t fit that description. Chris was supported by Tea Party organizations that campaigned at the street level. Chris was a vocal and articulate proponent of Tea Party core principles expressed across the nation: lower taxes, limited government, and respect for the limitations placed on government by the U.S. Constitution.

Rather than embrace Chris’s candidacy, the G.O.P. establishment had created the candidate who ran in the primary against Chris.

After losing that battle, we might expect the establishment to rally around Chris to defeat the incumbent Democrat.

They didn’t.

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the House version of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, never engaged Chris’ campaign. They didn’t show.

Perhaps you’re imagining that Chris is a political neophyte, uneducated, and lacks effective campaign skills. If so, you’re wrong.

Chris has been an effective political official at the local and county level; is exceptionally well-educated; and enjoys a successful professional career. Add to that, Chris is skilled at articulating conservative principles. Illustrations of those communication skills can be accessed on YouTube, but don’t Google “Chris Wolfe”. It’s a fictitious name…for a true story.

The G.O.P. establishment, across the board, chose not to support Chris because Chris puts voters and principles that happen to be shared by the Tea Party, first.

In a deep, dark, blue state, it’s hard to defeat an incumbent Democrat.

It’s just about impossible when those we would presume to be political allies are neutral, if not adversarial.

(In Chris’ story there are “adversarial” examples, but they’ll go untold here.)

For more NRCC, NRSC, and establishment G.O.P. picking winners and losers, see:

Did the NRSC sabotage a Tea Party-backed U.S. Senatorial candidate’s campaign in 2010?

G.O.P. establishment ensures defeat of a Tea Party-backed House candidate

Since 2007, Cary has written hundreds of articles and blogs for several conservative websites including the American Thinker and (in 2010 as Archy Cary) for Andrew Breitbart’s Big Journalism and Big Government. Cary’s writing has been quoted on national television (Sean Hannity) and on nationally syndicated radio (Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin). His work is cited in Jerome Corsi’s book The Obama Nation and in Levin’s Liberty and Tyranny. Along with Levin, Cary wrote an introduction to Sharron Angle’s book Right Angle. Two of his articles have also appeared on the DRUDGE REPORT, and in the on-line news source Real Clear Politics.