Too Little Too Late for Bob Inglis

Representative Bob Inglis has turned into a fire-breathing conservative as of late, revision 3.0?  Just a few short months ago he was beating his constituents up with health care, accusing those of us opposed as willing to leave someone to bleed to death on the hospital steps. My… how he has changed his tune.

Most just naturally assume; Bob has four challengers so he has to swing back to the right in order to win.  Maybe it goes a bit deeper.  I have been told Bob’s poll numbers are down to 35%.  I have no reason to doubt my multiple sources, but rather surprised he has that much support.  The recent WORD poll following the debate had Bob only pulling 5% of the vote. A debate the other night in Fountain Inn with about 200 in attendance had Bob winning only 7% in the straw poll following the debate.

For the sake of this article, let us assume that the 35% is completely accurate.  This means nothing less than Bob is finished politically and here is why…

I have heard much discussion lately that there are too many opponents, and that the field needs to be narrowed in order to beat Bob.  The fact that Bob has this many opponents demonstrates how vulnerable he is, but with all due respect, the Primary Election in South Carolina is for the very purpose of narrowing the field.

To win a Primary Election you must get 50% plus one vote.  That is one single vote over the 50% threshold.  Let’s assume Bob get’s that full 35% of the vote and the other 65% is divided among the four challengers.  That 35% is Bob’s ceiling and that is not enough to win.  Whoever finishes second to Bob will go to the Runoff Election two weeks later. Just the two of them.  This is where Bob loses as his ceiling will remain 35%.

Basically, no matter how you slice it, Bob loses.  We’ve heard many rumors to the effect if Bob’s poll numbers are low enough, he will not file to be on the ballot.  Personally, there are many of us who hope Bob remains in this race because when he loses badly (and he will), Bob will never be able to come back. If Bob decided to lie out, things could play out like they did before where he will have not been defeated and he can pop back up after a couple of election cycles.  It is better he stays in and we put him away in this election once and for all.

All of this does assume Bob has that 35% to begin with.  Based on how things are going, the anti-incumbent sentiment will do nothing but grow.  Bob will not place first or second to be in the Runoff Election. We are expecting Bob to place no higher than third and could actually finish dead last at the rate he is declining.

Gowdy Leads, Lee Close Behind in Fountain Inn Straw Poll

Last night, the Fountain Inn Chamber of Commerce and Fountain Inn Rotary Club hosted a fourth congressional debate with Myra Ruiz from WYFF moderating.  The results of the straw poll held after the debate are as follows (sections is in order of percent vote).

Trey Gowdy

Trey gathered 31% of the vote after the debate.  This is not all surprising as he has been working hard and building a lot of name recognition.  Of all the candidates, he has not been shy when it comes to attacking Inglis.  Given his fund raising totals and the perceived street cred obtained by those numbers, he may be in the final two.

Jim Lee

As the title says, Lee came in second with 27%.  This looks good for Jim and shows that his ground game and solid performance last week in the WORD radio debate is cashing in.  If Jim can continue to build this momentum, watch out.

David Thomas

I have been hearing rumors that Thomas’ Senate seat may be on the line if he performs poorly in his own district.  Unfortunately, for Thomas, polling in 3rd with 20% in his backyard could be the beginning of the end for him in politics.

Christina Jeffrey

Jeffrey brought in 15% after the Boiling Springs Tea Party issued a “Red Alert” call to action yesterday.  She is polling a little better than I expected.  We are waiting to see if the other Tea Parties will get behind her, but our sources say that is not likely.

Bob Inglis

Bob, Bob, Bob.  What else can we say than he brought in 7% of the vote.  Oh yeah, did we mention the democrats are likely not to vote in this election since they have multiple candidates in the governors race they covet so dearly?

You can read more at the Greenville News.

Bob Inglis Factoids

Congressman Bob Inglis has been touting his conservative votes and most of those were made since Obama was elected.  We have been doing a little fact checking of our own and thought we would share/remind you about the not so conservative Bob Inglis.  Once you finish, make sure you vote in our poll below.

National Debt & Spending

Since Inglis was sent back to Congress in 2004, the national debt has increased by 62% and spending increased by 42% in the same period.  Facts from the Congressional Budget Office.

Inglis on Czars

In a mailer to Union County ahead of a Union GOP meeting, Inglis claimed he learned about the issues with czars from his citizens.  I was at this meeting and Inglis was raked over the coals because he was justifying the use of czars because George H.W. Bush had czars in the early 90’s.  It was when a bunch of liberty minded citizens that took him to task over their (czars) accountability, he changed his mind.  I’m glad he did, but this is good for you to know.

Inglis on Health Care

Inglis claims he voted “no” to the Democrats health care bill.  Have you heard his vision for health care?  He wants the government to cover the first $2000 of your medical expenses every year.  Then you will will pick up the next $2000 and the government will pick up the rest.  So, lets say there are 275 million people in America, the minimum annual cost of his proposal is $550,000,000,000.  $550 BILLION a year, minimum.

When asked how he proposes to pay for this, he says you will.  How?  Since there will be no more employer based health insurance, you will have an additional $1000 per month in your paycheck, approximately, that can be sent to Uncle Sam.  That is if employers decide to give that money back to you in terms of salary.  So, if we have 150 million people working and paying for health insurance now (this number is pure speculation), then $1.8 trillion ($1,800,000,000,000) would be going to the government in tax revenues, assuming you receive the additional $1000/month from your employer and turn it over to Uncle Sam.

We know our estimated minimum cost of $550 billion a year will be exceeded, but the question is by how much?

Many questions linger around this idea that Inglis has proposed and I am still waiting to see the bill he is preparing.  It has been presented as a medicare replacement and a national health care plan, so only time will tell for us to see what will become of his proposal.

Inglis and the Real ID

Do you know how The Real ID Act came to be?

Originally H.R. 418, the Real ID, was approved by the House (and Inglis) in February 2005.

The original bill died, but one brave individual decided to attach it to another piece of legislation.  Of all things to be attached to, it was attached to the Tsunami Aid bill in 2005 officially known as H.R. 1268 (Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief, 2005) just 3 hours after the House voted in favor of H.R. 1268; 388-43.  The provision went to the Senate without debate.

Inglis later voted in favor of the final version of the bill (H.R. 1268), including the Real ID Act of 2005.

It is argued that the Real ID is a massive intrusion into states rights and personal liberties.  On top of that, the mandate appears to be unfunded and Inglis rejected his constituents and the people of South Carolina who have vehemently fought this bill and its repercussions.  The SC State House signed a bill that barred SC from abiding by the provisions set forth by the Real ID Act of 2005 and Governor Sanford applied for exemption to the standards successfully.

This is another prime example of Inglis being disconnected from his constituents (TARP and Iraq Troop Surge are a few others).

Inglis and Hydrogen

One thing missing from the campaign trail recently…Hydrogen.  Why?  We can only assume it is because he is trying to cover his tracks and show this conservative side.  Hell, for the last 4 years we have listened to Inglis speak, he has pimped Hydrogen like it was Maria Balen Chapur.

We have criticized him greatly for some of his stances and we respect the development of alternative fuels, but Inglis was unrelenting on climate change, global warming, and hydrogen.  You can see some history of that in “The Greener Side of Inglis“.

Common Sense Grandma Alienates Tea Party

There has been much bru ha ha over the past few days concerning the attempted take over of the Tea Party by the SCGOP, the agreement that was reached, and Chairman Floyd’s TV News stops promoting the deal.

According to Americans Have Had Enough and the Upcountry Coalition of Conservative Organizations press release, the agreement reached with the SCGOP was different from what was communicated to the national media outlets.  The terms of the original agreement can be found here.  You’ll have to decipher that one.

In response to the Upcountry Coalition, the Common Sense Grandma¹, Christina Jeffrey came out swinging at Russ Cassell, Roan Garcia-Quintana and others claiming they are republican haters to the same Tea Party leaders that support and rally around these individuals. Not a very smart move considering the voting base you are courting is that audience.

Guys, Roan Quintana, Kerry Wood, Russ Castle and Randy Simpson are GOP haters.

I think the guys above are agitating to beat the band and we should be careful. Not because I’m a candidate but because we will look bad as a movement if we beat people up unnecessarily. Listen to what she says – it’s just what Patrick said at the Greenville Exec Committee, not profound, not the way you or I would have said it, but not evil and not co-opting.

Even worse for Jeffrey, Cassell caught wind of this and aired her dirty laundry all over WORD (106.3) this morning.  We are still waiting for the highlights to be posted on NewsRadioWord.com, we’ll provide  a link when it becomes available.  NewsRadioWord Audio Link.

Sources indicate it was not a pretty morning for Jeffrey.  She was even referred to as “the nutty professor” a few times.  Ouch!

In my opinion, the entire premise and support base she built for this primary was completely obliterated this morning by trying to defend Karen Floyd’s statements.

Although it may have been the right thing to do, this may have killed any hope for a primary victory for Jeffrey in June.

UPDATE:
Reporting in from Greenville, the abusive behavior of a particular candidate consistently running into people as an intimidation tactic as returned.  It wouldn’t be so bad if you didn’t do it so often, repeatedly and inconsiderately.  We now have reports of this from the March for Life, Andre Bauer’s Christmas Party, Wade’s, and now Tommy’s Ham House.  You KNOW who you are!

UPDATE 2:
Jeffrey managed to squeeze her way to the front at the Press Conference today to get beside GOP Chairman Karen Floyd and wanted to speak.  As soon as she tried to speak, the crowd shouted her down, told her they didn’t want to hear anything else from her.  Supposedly, she yelled back before Kibler said let her talk.  She issued an apology.  In fairness, Quintana stated that since Jim Lee was in attendance, it was only fair he had an opportunity to speak to.

Bob Inglis

The Inglis campaign came out with a full frontal assault on Trey Gowdy this morning.

The Inglis campaign has filed ethical violations to the FEC and SC Ethics questioning Gowdy’s potential use of state campaign monies in his congressional race.  This story was broke by Jason Spencer at the Herald Journal.

Also, Inglis has begun what has been termed a “blitzkrieg” in Union County over the last week. I’m not sure Union is used to having this much attention for the congressional race.

David Thomas

Thomas campaigns ads have begun to be aired during news broadcast in the upstate this week.

¹ Common Sense Grandma was Jeffrey’s tag line for her 2008 election for SC House District 32

SC 4th Congressional Poll Results are in…

At midnight on February 5th, 2010, polling closed for our SC 4th Congressional District Poll.  It was open for a week and we had a variety of responses and general comments on the race.

We did our best to market the poll via Twitter and Facebook and other means to help promote each of the candidates fairly.  You can see screen shots below.

I would love to say that internet polling was accurate.  If that were the case Ron Paul would have been President.  Given the amount of traffic we received compared to the number of votes, I would hope this was a fair indication of the people in the 4th Congressional District.

Without further delay, here are the results…

36% – Jim Lee
18% – Trey Gowdy
18% – Bob Inglis
18% – Christina Jeffrey
07% – David Thomas

My biggest surprise is the indecisiveness for the potential runoff candidate.  With Gowdy, Inglis, and Jeffrey all tied for 2nd, this may be the largest battle.  Between these three candidates, you see the outside Ron Paul supporters backing Jeffrey who has been threatening to censor individuals recently on Facebook and a potential split between the establishment candidates of Inglis and Gowdy.

This is a race I have been looking forward to seeing play out and it will only get more interesting the closer we get to June.  What do you think about these results?

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