A few things.

First Republicans need to stop fighting among themselves in their little clicks. The whole “Rockefeller” republicans and the “Holt” Republicans and the Huckabee v/s Hutchinson duals, I am more of a conservative than he is…. not of that mess benefits out party. I for one have great disdain for our former Governor. I have a close friend who is a great admirer. We are friends, we share the same values, fight for the same causes, just like most Republicans in Arkansas but they don’t realize it. We just rarely discuss the former Governor.

Secondly if you were going to enter into a political race where would you find someone to run your campaign. O you would just run it yourself? How is that working out for you Arkansas Republicans? Not one single candidate for statewide office in Arkansas in 06 had a campaign ran by anyone who had ran a campaign before. Take this lesson Arkansas candidates, You HAVE to hire good people to help you run your campaign, especially if you are an Arkansas Republican. You can’t do it on the cheap. Hire Keith Emis and his crew (proven results) or Carl Vogelphool (proven results) or No Impact Management (proven failures) but you have to hire somebody.

Finally Arkansas Republicans need to take care of the people who support them. Few people worked harder for Asa Hutchinson than Joe Pennington. When the race was over Asa and the RPA left him high and dry. You know where he in now? Not with Chris Battle in D.C. Not in any number of the various ventures Asa is involved in. He is in Mississippi struggling to make ends meet. Trudging away trying to get his degree. I would say that is a pretty good example of why the Republican party is struggling in Arkansas.

But that’s disgusting. Build up candidates from the local level, yes. Emulate one of these grotesque political machines with the suck-ups and the suck-up-to’s, no.

BR-
There is a reason all these folks pop up and run as Republicans. There is a power vaccuum that allows that to happen. If you have a strong candidate that has come up through the ranks, then these unknowns aren’t going to challenge them. One or two might now and again, but they won’t win. The problem isn’t who is nominated, it is that they can get nominated. There is simply no strong candidate to keep them from it. Strong candidates don’t fall out of the sky, they are made. Bill Clinton, Mike Beebe, Dustin McDaniel. All started out at lower offices and moved up.

These “theroies” crack me up. But hey, I might as well throw mine out there too..

How about its not so much the Dems organizing, recruiting as it is our good fortune that repubs nominate people who are not in touch with mainstream Arkansas (or reality, often)

Look,for example, at every single republican announced candidate for statewide or congressional office right now. None have any idea what they are doing. None have ever won a campaign.
Sure, the tea party may have brought out the angriest of the angry, but the R’s were already gonna get their vote.

I think the time has come for a reality check within the repub party. You need the Chuck Banks in your party. He GETS it.

the only way for moderate repubs to get out of your primary is to expand your base–that means moving to the left a tad–i.e. More mainstream.

But at the same time who would I make fun of if yall stopped nominating guys with 87 kids, stupid nicknames, or who invoke tv shows that have been in syndication since I was in diapers?

Anyways. Good stuff.

Freeman,
I too think that limited government naturally means a curbing on the power of individuals in positions of authority. But in order to defeat the enemy, we must know the enemy. Also, you must play the game by the rules that are set. If you do not know the rules, you will lose. But mostly, remember we are conservatives/libertarians. We are not anarchist. Thus, we do believe in a power structure, though it is limited. It is not wrong to be ambitious as long as your ambition is curbed and put in check by restraints on the government. Even Jefferson built a formidable political base from which to act.

In the least we should at least try our best to support business endeavor’s supported by people who think and vote the way we do. There is no harm in that. It is the free enterprise system and we should reward those whom with which we agree. I’m not saying that we should never eat ketchup from Heinz again because of that loathsome Teresa Heinz Kerry. But you should be loyal and support, buy from and hire those that will promote your values.

Part of the reason they naturally do that is because they love power. Real conservatives AKA classical liberals don’t. (Which explains why Huckabee could play the Dem game.) A real conservative sees a bunch of young people plotting power grabs and getting people in debt to them, and he’s disgusted. The desire to control other people is a character flaw.

But you’re right that the Arkansas GOP needs to work locally. Maybe they can have “let’s plan how we’ll make the government leave everyone alone” meetings.