2008 Primaries • May 19th, 2008

Scenes from a convention I didn’t attend

by Chris Lato

Sure, it’s tough to get the full flavor of a state Republican convention when you weren’t actually there (I have a good excuse - I was raising money for charity in Milwaukee and yes, you can still contribute) but there’s enough news and comment out there to make a couple of observations about what went down in Stevens Point over the weekend.

1. What’s up with Jim Sensenbrenner? The convention is about unity, bringing Republicans together, getting ready for the battles ahead in the election season. Yes, it’s a bit of a sham, but there are better ways to deal with the intra-party dirty laundry than airing it out in public. So why did Congressman Sensenbrenner see the need to throw Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch under the bus in such a public forum? Argue the merits of Real ID and the budget repair bill in another forum – Sensenbrenner’s tire-slashing move is disappointing, especially when the GOP already has its hands full working to hold onto the Assembly in 2008.

2. 2010: The year Republicans take over? A straw poll conducted by Wispolitics found Scott Walker to be the big favorite amongst prospective candidates in the race for governor. On the Senate side, current U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan gets the nod as the best choice to make a run. Awesome choices both. A lot can happen between now and 2010, but right now they are deservedly at the top of the heap.

3. Where are the women? A great piece by Christian Schneider highlights the Wisconsin GOP’s lack of females in positions to run for top offices. As someone who worked for a great female Republican (2006 GOP Lt. Governor candidate Jean Hundertmark) it’s a fair question to ask.

4. Where are the young people? A lot of relative young’uns are in positions of authority in the Wisconsin GOP – now the party just needs more young people to get involved and play a role in getting more Republicans elected. The College Republicans and other young GOP groups will need to step up this year, because Presidential election-year grassroots campaigns don’t magically organize and execute by themselves.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 19th, 2008 at 11:58 am and is filed under 2008 Primaries. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.