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Oklahoma Primary 2022: Statewide races
Somewhat short takes on the races for Oklahoma statewide office on the June 28, 2022, Republican primary ballot. Lt. Governor Matt Pinnell did not draw a primary opponent, and Insurance Commissioner Glen Mulready has been re-elected without opposition. I've endorsed John O'Connor for Attorney General in a separate entry....
National Popular Vote continues to fund junkets for Oklahoma legislators
You'd think they'd give up, at long last, but advocates of the National Popular Vote compact continue to lobby Oklahoma legislators to agree to enslave our electoral vote to that of higher-population states on the coasts. Jamison Faught, the Muskogee Politico, recently dug through the legislators' financial disclosure statements for...
2019 OKGOP convention thoughts
UPDATE: Generally a good outcome. David McLain was elected chairman. Former State Rep. Mike Turner was elected vice chairman. All of the rule changes were thrown out because outgoing state chairman Pam Pollard failed to provide the proposals to delegates by the 10-day deadline. Platform was on the agenda and...
Oklahoma special session 2017: Protect taxpayers
Spending is higher than ever, but the lobbyists who represent the beneficiaries of that spending have convinced legislative leaders that consolidation and prioritization of spending are impossible tasks, that there is no more waste or duplication to be found, and the only hope is to raise taxes. Happily, our state...
2016 Oklahoma Republican State Convention
A subdued mood prevailed Saturday as 857 delegates convened at FirstMoore Baptist Church for the 2016 Oklahoma Republican Convention. (The 2012 convention drew approximately 1,400 delegates.) The state convention in a presidential year has a national focus, electing two members of the Republican National Committee, electing 25 at-large delegates and...
RNC party elite? Hardly.
Yesterday, I saw a Politico story with this headline: GOP rivals humble themselves before the party's elite Cruz, Kasich and Trump team makes pitches as delegates dangle their support. Knowing the three people who represent Oklahoma on the RNC, I can't accept the term "party elite." Oklahoma GOP chairman Pam...
Cruz sweeps Colorado, fair and square
Donald J. Trump â€@realDonaldTrump How is it possible that the people of the great State of Colorado never got to vote in the Republican Primary? Great anger - totally unfair! 7:28 PM - 10 Apr 2016 Michael Bates †@BatesLine @realDonaldTrump Is it unfair to good kicking teams that...
Randy Brogdon for Oklahoma Republican Chairman
UPDATE: Jamison Faught reports on Twitter that on the first ballot Brogdon finished first but short of a majority, and incumbent chairman Weston was eliminated -- Brogdon 47.45, Pollard 29.11, Weston 23.43. Brogdon won the second ballot over Pollard, 53.35% to 46.65%. Estela Hernandez was elected vice chairman with 58.12%...
National Popular Vote before Oklahoma House committee Wednesday
The attempt to enlist Oklahoma in the National Popular Vote agreement, a left-wing attempt to subvert the constitutional method for electing the president, is back. In 2014, NPV legislation was rushed through the State Senate. Legislators were invited to junkets in tropical locations and other favorite vacation spots to discuss...
Oklahoma governor: For Mary Fallin
Earlier this year, I heard a Republican activist talking excitedly about the possibility that the Democrats might have only an also-ran as nominee for governor or perhaps no nominee at all. If the Democratic nominee failed to reach 20% of the vote, the party would be decertified and lose its...
Betrayal: Oklahoma Senate passes National Popular Vote bill
The price of liberty is eternal vigilance. If you thought you could relax because the Republicans are in charge at the State Capitol and Oklahoma Republicans have a conservative party platform, remember that there are lobbyists giving our friends at the Capitol one side of the story. We in the...
Mitt Romney's RNC power grab
I hate to have to miss the Republican National Convention this year, but it's especially tough to miss the convention's Rules Committee proceedings the week before the convention. I was one of a handful of reporters and bloggers covering the 2004 and 2008 Rules Committee proceedings, and I suspect I...
Steve Fair for Republican National Committeeman
This Saturday at the 2012 Oklahoma Republican State Convention, delegates will elect two of its three representatives on the Republican National Committee. (State chairmen are ex officio RNC members.) Oklahoma's National Committeewoman, Carolyn McLarty, is running for re-election and so far has not drawn an opponent. National Committeeman James Dunn...
The anthropomorphization of the GOP
This post has been percolating in my brain for a couple of months, and the topic for even longer, but other business has prevented its completion until now. As I read conservative blogs, I see a great deal of understandable frustration with different aspects of Republican Party politics: The National...
Oklahoma Republican delegate allocation methodology
In the wake of the Michigan Republican presidential primary, in which Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney won an equal number of congressional districts, each worth two delegates, there was a dispute over whether the two at-large delegates should be divided between Romney and Santorum (since no candidate received a majority...
Newt's Florida challenge and the GOP's sloppy rules
Newt Gingrich is challenging the plurality-takes-all allocation of Florida's 50 delegates to the Republican National Convention. Mitt Romney finished first in the January 31st primary with 46% of the vote, which means, according to rules adopted by the Florida state party rules, Romney gets all 50. Republicans in Florida and...
Republican cumulative delegates by date
Florida turned out as expected, but as I wrote right after South Carolina, there's no need for anyone of the remaining candidates to head for the exits. Mitt Romney's campaign is restarting the inevitability bandwagon. Pundits are falling over each other to be the first to declare that it's all...
Iowa caucuses: How Ron Paul can "win" and lose in the same night
Several recent poll results suggest that Texas Congressman Ron Paul could be in for a good result this coming Tuesday, the night that Iowa voters gather for Republican precinct caucuses, the first step in a series of conventions that will lead to the selection of delegates and alternates to...
Join the March for Life
Today is the March for Life, the annual event to protest Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that overturned abortion laws nationwide and that has resulted in the death of nearly 50 million innocent American children since that date. You may not be able to get to...
RNC chairman's race: Oklahoma's Jones backs Blackwell
For the first time since the Clinton administration, the 168 members of the Republican National Committee will be picking a new chairman without simply deferring to the wishes of the president. Traditionally, if there's a Republican in the White House, he makes the call, and the RNC members merely ratify...
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