Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 10:47:12 -0000
From: kylben@earthlink.net ("Kyle Bennett")
Subject: [lpaz-Pima] Fw:  Republican Liberty Caucus In the News...
To: lpaz-Pima@yahoogroups.com
Reply-To: lpaz-Pima@yahoogroups.com

Since recent discussions have involved the RLC, as well as the idea of nudging the mainstream political debate slightly in our direction, I thought this might be of some interest.

----- Original Message ----- From: <LibertyWatch@rlc.org> To: <Kylben@earthlink.Net> Sent: Monday, May 21, 2001 4:03 PM Subject: Republican Liberty Caucus In the News...

> May 21, 2001
>
> GOP will court its libertarian wing
>
> By Ralph Z. Hallow
> THE WASHINGTON TIMES
>
> Influential Republicans are preparing an
> election game plan to put reliable
> majorities in Congress.
>
> The trick, they say, is to go back to the
> limited-government basics of the partys
> libertarian wing without generating friction
> with social and religious conservatives.
>
> "Our partys broad center-right coalition
> includes social conservatives as well as
> libertarians, so its doable," Republican
> strategist Grover Norquist said.
>
> He said that if Republicans had sought to
> win over even a tiny percentage of the
> Libertarian Party vote in Nevada and
> Washington state, it would have a 52-48
> Senate majority instead of a 50-50 split.
>
> Mr. Norquist notes that in Washington
> states Senate race last year, Republican
> incumbent Slade Gorton lost to Democrat
> challenger Maria Cantwell by only
> 2,229votes. Libertarian Jeff Jared gathered
> 64,734 votes in that race. If Republicans
> had grabbed only 4 percent of Mr. Jareds
> vote, Mr. Gorton would be in the Senate.
>
> Two years earlier, Republican John Ensign
> lost to incumbent Democrat Sen. Harry Reid
> in Nevada by a merely 428 votes, while
> Libertarian Michael Cloud took 8,044 votes.
> If Republicans had appealed directly to
> conservative-minded voters who went for Mr.
> Cloud and won just 6 percent of them, the
> Nevada Senate seat would have gone
> Republican.
>
> And in New Mexico, Al Gore beat Bush by only
> 366 votes. "Bush could easily have peeled
> that many votes from the 2,058 that
> Libertarian candidate Harry Browne got, if
> Bush had only gone after that vote," said
> state Republican Chairman John
> Denhahl. "Democrats made the case that a
> vote for Nader was a vote for Bush, and we
> could have made the case that a vote for
> Browne was a vote for Gore."
>
> To avoid such disasters, Republicans are
> pinning their hopes, in part, on something
> called the Republican Liberty Caucus.
>
> "The most important thing is to get the
> libertarian-leaning voter to vote
> Republican," said Liberty Caucus National
> Chairman Chuck Muth. "To do that,
> Republicans cant just say, 'Lets slow the
> spending growth to just 4 percent, adjusted
> for inflation [as they did in the federal
> budget]. Government is already too big and
> too intrusive."
>
> "Since 1995, the Republican Congress has
> been expanding government, and that is
> precisely why so many voters who voted for
> Republicans in 1994 have been staying home
> or have fled to the third party movement,"
> said Mr. Muth.
>
> One inevitable source of conflict, however,
> that will pit the Liberty Caucus against
> many establishment Republicans is that the
> caucus will recruit, train and support
> Republican candidates to go up against other
> Republicans, including incumbents, who dont
> support cutting government and taxes and
> maximizing personal freedom.
>
> "It will cause friction with the
> establishment that always wants to support
> incumbents like [Vermont Sen. James M.]
> Jeffords and [Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln]
> Chafee for not supporting the Bush tax
> cuts," Mr. Muth said. "Other 'RINOs
> [Republicans in name only] and the
> establishment wont support us on that, but
> the grass-roots Republicans will."
>
> The Liberty Caucus, he said, also will "keep
> an eye on" wavering Republicans like Maine
> Sen. Olympia Snowe, New Jersey Rep. Marge
> Roukema and Maryland Rep. Connie
> Morella. "But we have to be careful not to
> give away a seat to the Democrats by
> targeting a Republican."
>
> "Make no mistake," Mr. Muth said. "Grass-
> roots Republicans are angry as hornets at
> Jeffords and Chafee right now and have been
> at other RINOs for five years, such as
> [Connecticut Republican Rep.] Chris Shays,"
> co-author of the House version of the McCain-
> Feingold campaign finance regulation bill.
>
> Mr. Norquist said that a caucus goal is
> to "avoid disasters" like Mr. Gortons loss
> inflicted by a Libertarian. "This also
> happens for House races and for state
> legislative officers. Its why the
> Republicans lost control of the Colorado
> state Senate. So looking for areas of
> cooperation between libertarian
> conservatives and Republicans is very
> important."
>
> Mr. Muth thinks the Republican Party "should
> be comfortable doing that. Our job as the
> Liberty Caucus is to return the Republican
> Party to its limited-government roots."
>
> But is the party itself on board, in spite
> of the risks?
>
> "Im a libertarian Republican," said Montana
> Republican Chairman Matt Denny. "And I don't
> see much conflict with social and religious
> conservatives. At bottom, we want the same
> things. Libertarians believe we dont need a
> paternalistic government telling us how to
> run our businesses or raise our children."
>
> # # #
>
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