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Toomey Loses Squeaker to Specter
Now I know what ABC's Jim McKay meant when he talked about the agony of
defeat!
As you have probably heard by now, Pat Toomey lost his heroic bid to unseat
Arlen Specter in the Pennsylvania Republican Senate primary by the narrowest of
margins: 50.8% - 49.2%.
Thank you so much for your stellar support of Pat's campaign.
Needless to say, this was an excruciatingly disappointing result, especially to
come so close, to be able to sniff victory, and still lose. We almost pulled
off what the Wall Street Journal said would have been the "biggest Senate upset
in a generation." We did almost everything conceivable that we could do. You
and all our members were stars, donating more than $1 million to Toomey -- an
astonishingly generous sum. I can't prove this for a fact, but I would bet that
this is the most money any single group has ever raised for a candidate other
than a presidential contender. People gave and gave and gave.
Thanks also to the many Club members that gave to the Club's PAC. This enabled
us to run $400,000 of TV ads during the last week urging people to defeat
Specter and elect Toomey.
The Club also played an enormously valuable role in educating Pennsylvanians
about Specter's wasteful spending with $1 million in TV ads that ran in February
and March.
We knew going into this race that we were facing long odds.
We were up against a 24-year incumbent, who happened to be the chairman of one
of the powerful Senate Appropriations subcommittees.
We were up against a Senator who is a prodigious fundraiser. Specter outspent
Toomey more than 3 to 1 in this race: $14 million to $4 million.
And we were up against a Republican machine, in which virtually every Republican
elected official from local dogcatcher to the Vice President and President of
the United States.
As I have said many times, when David takes on Goliath, Goliath usually wins --
but not always. Also, often in politics you win when you lose and ultimately, I
think, that will be the impact of this race. Hopefully Republicans in Congress
and the White House will get the message about how angry pro-growth
conservatives are over the out-of-control federal spending binge.
As noted in this morning's Philadelphia Daily News: "To the very few moderate
Republicans left in Congress, the message this morning couldn't be clearer:
This could happen to you."
And editor Chuck Todd of The Hotline (the leading daily news briefing on
American politics) had this to say: "Finally, we'd be remiss if we didn't tip
our cap to Club for Growth. Stephen Moore's group may lose more primary battles
than it wins, but this narrow loss was on a very big stage. Don't think the
remaining liberal and moderate Republicans in the Club's crosshairs shouldn't
see a very serious threat sometime in their future. (George Voinovich, Olympia
Snowe, Lincoln Chafee, we mean you.)"
So, are we disappointed? Absolutely. But disheartened? Hell no. We proved in
this race that we're now the most potent force in the Republican Party and,
believe me, that has the Republicans In Name Only (RINOs) trembling. More
importantly, we are widely respected by friends and foes alike because we
unwaveringly stand for principle, and for principled candidates.
Such a campaign was unthinkable for the Club just two years ago. As we continue
to grow our ability to have an impact will only grow larger.
I'm proud of our members for joining this fight with us even though the odds
were stacked against us. Thank you.
I'm proud of our board of directors for prodding us to keep going in this race
and never giving up.
I'm proud of Pat Toomey for running a brilliant and exhilarating race (he
started 35 points down!) and for extolling the virtues of free markets and
economic growth policies in such a compelling fashion.
However, despite our support for Pat Toomey, now is the time for Republicans in
Pennsylvania and around the nation to come together and support Arlen Specter.
It's an honor to be associated with every one of you.
Now, onward to the next fight. There is not a minute to lose.
Best,
Steve
__________________
Steve Moore
President, Club for Growth
1776 K St NW Suite 300
Washington, DC 20006
www.ClubforGrowth.org
202-955-5500
If you ever want to remove email address information from your membership to the
Club for Growth, just reply to this email and ask that your email address be
removed.
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