What Will You Do If Romney Is the GOP Nominee?
I’m a contingency planner. My business partner is a risk-taking entrepreneur of the highest magnitude. We make a good team. When he’s pushing the envelope of a new business venture, I’m asking the “what will happen if” questions. A business needs to be prepared for the unknown. Our companies prepared for the economic downturn in 2008 long before others did. We survived and are now thriving. It started by taking a pay cut. My first layoff was my wife.
Now we must prepare for certain political possibilities. What will you do if Mitt Romney gets the GOP nomination? I know you don’t want to think about it, but it’s a good possibility. Wishing and hoping that it won’t happen won’t do anything to stop it.
We must do the left-brain/right brain thing. While we pursue our “anybody but Romney” campaigns, we need to plan for the possibility that it will be Romney. Of course, some of you may have already thrown your lot in with Romney. A number of prominent Republicans have gotten behind him, everyone from Ann Coulter to Chris Christie. We hear that Christie is not a real conservative and Ann Coulter has gone over to the dark side with her support for GOProud. Nevertheless, Romney is picking up establishment support and money. Not a good thing for us, but it is a good thing for Romney which makes his candidacy all the more probable.
The question remains: What if it’s Romney? I can hear some of you say, “I’ll never vote for Romney.” I know how you feel about Romney, but don’t let your anger and disappointment lead to inaction.
Let’s take a page from the Liberal playbook:
“[You can] do one of three things. One, go find a wailing wall and feel sorry for yourselves. Two, go psycho and start bombing [which is wrong and will only get you thrown in jail or worse]. . . . Three, learn a lesson. Go home, organize, build power and at the next convention, you be the delegates.”1
The United States is not a monarchy. We have a Congress. We saw what the off-year election in 2010 did to shift the forces of political power. A few more new Senators and we would have had Obama on the ropes.
Thirty three Senators are up for re-election. The Democrats have more seats up in 2012 than the Republicans do. There are 16 Democrats/Independents seeking re-election. Seven Democrat Senators are retiring.
Only two Republican Senators are retiring. Kay Bailey Hutchison, the senior senator from Texas is one, and Jon Kyl from Arizona. Eight Republicans are up for re-election.
If you don’t vote for Romney, then get behind the congressional candidates who can do the most good in stopping a President Obama or a President Romney.
We want to hear from candidates that they will not vote party but principle. They will oppose the president of their party no matter how much pressure he and the party’s power players put on them.
If Obama wins in 2012, which is a good possibility, the tactic is the same. Change the face of Congress. Don’t stay home. Don’t sulk. Don’t be bitter. Don’t get mad . . . Get even. Better yet, get mad and even. It’s great motivation.
The Democrat Seats up in 2012:
- Daniel Akaka, Hawaii
- Jeff Bingaman, New Mexico
- Sherrod Brown, Ohio
- Joe Manchin, West Virginia.
- Maria Cantwell, Washington
- Benjamin Cardin, Maryland
- Thomas Carper, Delaware.
- Robert Casey, Jr., Pennsylvania
- Kent Conrad, North Dakota
- Diane Feinstein, California
- Kirsten Gillibrand, New York
- Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota
- Herb Kohl, Wisconsin
- Claire McCaskill, Missouri
- Robert Menendez, New Jersey
- Ben Nelson, Nebraska
- Bill Nelson, Florida
- Debbie Stabenow
- Jon Tester, Montana
- Jim Webb, Virginia.
- Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island
The Independents (who caucus with the Democrats) up in 2012:
- Joseph Lieberman, Connecticut
- Bernard Sanders, Socialist
The Republican Seats up in 2012:
- Scott Brown, Massachusetts
- John Barrasso, Wyoming
- Bob Corker, Tennessee
- John Ensign, Nevada
- Orrin Hatch, Utah
- Kay Bailey Hutchison, Texas
- Jon Kyl, Arizona
- Richard Lugar, Indiana
- Olympia Snowe, Maine
- Roger Wicker, Mississippi
Vote Accordingly.
- Saul D. Alinsky, Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals (New York: Vintage Books, [1971] 1989), xxiii. [↩]