What GOP Candidates Can Learn From George Allen’s Defeat
AgapePress – November 13, 2006
By Jeff Johnson and Chad Groening of AFR News
FPN President Joe Glover says he is not at all surprised that former U.S. Senator George Allen (R-VA) was narrowly defeated in his 2006 re-election bid. The Republican incumbent lost his race by only 9,300 votes, and Glover thinks he knows why. He believes the incumbent alienated too much of his base.
Allen called himself a conservative, yet supported a hate crimes designation for homosexuals and failed to support [a federal] marriage amendment until late in the game, the FPN spokesman observes. The GOP candidate garnered 1.42 million votes when he was elected in 2000, but in the 2006 election, he received only 1.17 million votes.
“Clearly, with a difference of only 9,300 votes, there are 250,000 more people who saw a lack of interest in George Allen this time,” Glover says. “Perhaps because they felt betrayed.” In any case, he feels other GOP office-seekers can learn a lesson from what happened to Glover.
“If you’re going to run as a Republican, stick with your base,” the pro-family advocate urges. “If you’re going to run as a pro-family candidate, stick with your base. And if you’re going to run as a conservative, then support conservative policies like the federal marriage amendment and oppose hate crimes designation for homosexuals.”
Allen upset some voters with his apparent departure from or lack of support for conservative values. Glover [said he wonders if] the senator and Republicans .. understand that if they will only stick to the values of those voters who make up their conservative base, then “they’ll stick with you.”
DISCLAIMER: The quotes on this page contain updated numbers from the original article to reflect official election results, which were updated and certified by elections officials since the original version of this article was posted.
Copyright, 2006 – AgapePress
RELATED INFORMATION:
FPN Paper: The Truth About George Allen and Homosexuality
http://familypolicy.net/us-p-184
FAMILY NEWS IN FOCUS – Allen tries to explain HIS ‘04 hate crimes betrayal:
AUDIO: http://familypolicy.net/files/AllenHC-FNIF.asf
ARTICLE: http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/a0032751.cfm
WASHINGTON TIMES – Allen’s ‘04 Hate Crimes vote (1/2 way down page):
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20040628-110203-1578r.htm
CWFA – Allen’s broken campaign promise on hate crimes:
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/5883/CFI/family/index.htm
Virginians respond to Allen’s ‘04 hate crimes vote on FPN Blog:
http://familypolicy.net/va-p-136
FPN’s original release concerning Allen’s Hate Crimes vote:
http://familypolicy.net/va-p-5
CNS NEWS: Exclusive: Sen Allen Withdraws ‘Hate Crimes’ Support
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/viewstory.asp?Page=%5CPolitics…
This article also at: Crosswalk.com, NewsMAX.com
(Broken) promise from George Allen from 2000, re: adding “”sexual orientation”” to hate crimes:
