Breaking: Mike Protack To Run for Something – Probably Governor
The DE GOP’s totally unkillable Rasputin gets his hat in early:
Jason,
Happy New Year. After a disastrous 2006 (Ting) and even worse 2008 (Lee and others) I have no concerns about where I stand. I am sitting real good right now. I have a statewide recognition over 75% and the issues I care about are the same ones most Delawareans do also.
2006 and 2008 proved the Delaware GOP can stop a candidate but not elect one. Most Delaware Republicans want something better and for what it is worth the State GOP has lost any credibility on choosing candidates.
The things I debated Markell and Carney on in 2008 will be more important in 2010/2012. Universal Health care is one very important issue.
Plus I do not think Obama or Markell will be very popular given the incoming challenges they face. Wait till we all see the budget in Delaware.
Enjoy the New Year.
Happy new year indeed.
While I love the vision of Ron Williams’ head crashing down on his keyboard sending the “F,” “U,” “C,” and “K” keys momentarily into orbit around his giant noggin, I am equally pleased to know that Governor Markell and Lt. Governor Denn will be free to focus on policies instead of politics.
Thank you for your continuing service to the state Mike.
More comment rescue from this AM:
At this point the Republican Party is not a proper vehicle for anyone to run and win statewide in 2010. I have worked hard to change that fact and maybe after a total implosion it might be possible to rebuild. I hope so.
In 2008 we talked about a Universal Health Care plan which would work, about implementing Vision 2015, about having an Inspector General, about open government, about an aggressive move to renewable energy , Shot Spotter technology for gun violence in Wilmington etc.
Things which would be good for Delaware but for which I was roundly attacked for in the primary and things which are supported by most readers on this site. If and when the GOP realizes those priorities we might move ahead as we must move beyond the Reagan legacy to be viable.
In the end we suffered a huge loss at every level and not one GOP official stepped aside, not one. Every candidate in the state was hurt by the Lee candidacy especially Charlie Copeland. Charlie deserved better, he ran hard and gave it 100%. You folks roundly attack him but he worked hard.
While some of you take the courageous action of sitting behind a keyboard and making comments I stood up and ran on things I believed in. Many groups I have been in contact with since the election bemoan the disintegration of the GOP, they see it as a negative to have a one party state, I agree.
We in the GOP have to understand voters are disgusted with us and it isn’t all Bush’s fault. In 2009 we need to offer more than criticisms against Markell and Obama, we need to offer a plan.
Myself and others plan to launch an effort to offer a plan to rebuild the Delaware GOP, more to come. Guys like Tyler Nixon are essential to this sort of effort, let’s hope we can find more of them.
I’ll certainly admit to doing nothing to help in the 6th RD special election, but I did work to help get candidates elected statewide.
I’ll also say that I’m no fan of Mike P. but he is right that running for office is one of the highest forms of public service. I admire anyone who can run for office. They should be proud of their accomplishments and should hold their heads high.
The DE GOP’s problem is related to the national GOP’s problems. Bush is a big part of it, but as nemski pointed out when he posted about Krugman’s Friday column, it’s bigger than that. The GOP’s problem is the GOP. Their ideology has driven this country off a cliff and we aren’t seeing our local GOP candidates breaking away from it.
Copeland may have been a good candidate. I have no idea, really. The only thing I heard him give as an idea is splitting DNREC. That was a very silly idea. There are so many issues the GOP could have highlighted – like inaction on DPC or open government (rightly criticizing Democrats for inaction on the issue).
Oh God, no, please.
v,
You’re getting it from the horse’s mouth.
I hear they are looking for pilots in North Dakota…can’t the guy take a freakin’ “HINT”… how many losses does one endure, how many sock puppets and conspiracies can one put UP with… what a narcissist. Maybe he LIKES the pain, could it be he’s a closet submissive????OMG
Jason,
It’s “Protack.” No “t” on the end.
Puhleeeeeze use spellcheck, for all our collective sanity? 😉
Protack’s problem is a credibility one — he has no track record of previous elected service and while he comes across pretty well in person (the few times I saw him) he didn’t really give anyone a reason to vote for him. He really ought to give County Council or the State Leg a whirl before spinning out another campaign for statewide office. Or he needs to hit the Powerball to be able to self-fund buying a seat.
His other problem is that his words do not match his deeds. The stunt he pulled on the Independent Party is the kind of thing that will impress people — but not in the way Mike wants it to. It showed everyone that he’s interested in Mike Protack above everything else.
Even if he overcomes that, he has his campaign funding problems to deal with. Nobody in politics believes for a moment that he raised the money he did with only one donation of above $100. If the state GOP wants to put an end to this, it should push forward with complaints about this and force him to prove it.
Even if he overcomes all that, he must deal with the fact that a) nobody likes him and b) only a small minority agrees with his politics.
Other than all that, Mike Protack should soon be coming to a public office near you.
So a State that elected KWS couldn’t possibly elect MP?
Protack is such a loser that the GOP had to drag a guy out of retirement to keep him off the ticket.
And that guy, Bill Lee, humiliated Protack in the primary even after Protack’s barrage of mudslinging ads about Lee liking women and drinking, despite the mailings that went out to all of the churches, community groups, media organizations, etc… with Lee in that yellow shirt standing in a bar looking wasted, and regardless of Lee’s statement about giving driver’s licenses to illegals.
All of that going against Lee and Protack still couldn’t break 30%.
Protack is unelectable even under the best circumstances.
I’m with you disbelief. 90% of politics is name recognition and Protack has it. Isn’t that how KWS got elected? I would also argue that name recognition is what got KHN to win the Democratic primary for House as well.
Geezer and Justkillmenow are are correct. However, this…
The stunt he pulled on the Independent Party is the kind of thing that will impress people — but not in the way Mike wants it to. It showed everyone that he’s interested in Mike Protack above everything else.
…reminds me that Mike P should have taken my advice at two points:
1) He should have forgiven and embraced Crazy Ms. O’d and tried to latch onto if not co-opt her wingnut freaks who are natural Mike P peeps. Instead he nursed his hurt feelings.
2) He should have said, “Thank you, No. I’m a proud Republican” to the Ipod peeps, and made the fact that they were into him into an asset instead of the crazy liability it became.
Anyway, even those two things wouldn’t have helped much, but he would have broken 30%.
Or Beau Biden to run and win. Or John Clatworthy to win the Republican primary. Or Tom Gordon to lose?
So a State that elected KWS couldn’t possibly elect MP?
Governor is the big leagues. The Ins. Commish race is an after thought.
“So a State that elected KWS couldn’t possibly elect MP?”
Anything is possible, but I’d say the odds of Mike Protack becoming governor are well below 1%. I hate to belabor the obvious, but it’s sometimes necessary on DL, so here goes:
There are two big differences between KWS and MP.
1) Karen Weldin Stewart’s name recognition is nowhere near as high as Mike Protack’s — which means that, unlike Mike, she has not been making a public spectacle of herself for years. Her name tickled the underside of public consciousness; Protack’s is as widely known as some elected officials. The trouble for Mike is that it’s not all positive recognition.
That was Gordon’s problem, too. More people know his name than Chris Coons’, if only because Coons doesn’t publish the annual Brag Book with a photo of himself on every page, the way Gordon used to do. But much of that Gordon recognition is now negative. As someone pointed out, Tom Capano also has high name recognition. Ask anyone else named Capano how that’s working out for them. (You can start with Debbie Hudson, who kept the Capano name for years after her divorce from Louis — but ditched it after the murder case).
2) This is the important one, so I saved it for last. KWS is a Democrat, a huge advantage in a blue state. Mike Protack is a Republican, and not a moderate one on some issues. That’s a huge disadvantage in a blue state.
If MP ever expects to succeed at a run for office, he needs to set his sites lower and make damn sure they’re low enough to carry a district with a Republican advantage in registration. If MP were a Democrat and had the same number of failed bids for public office, he could eventually run and win in Delaware. But that isn’t the case so we can expect to continue to have MP for entertainment purposes only if he attempst to run outside of a Rep seat, Council seat, or Senate seat. KWS would’ve remained in a similar status had it not been for a tide of new voters who registered to vote for the first time for Obama. If most of the newly registered voters in the primary had any sense of the importance of a quality candidate, they would not have voted for her just because they’d seen her name before. They probably don’t even have a clue what an insurance commisioner does. They just got in the booth and saw all those little levers and couldn’t leave well enough alone.
I split my ticket when I vote because, even though the Republican isn’t always right in lock step with my ideology, they can sometimes be better than the alternative. Fortunately for us, Castle’s name had a bit more recognition even to the unschooled or we’d be stuck with not one, but two dimwits being sworn in this time. One can look at KHN’s performance and see that she is to the Democrats what Protack is to the Republicans…..a bad choice. On a positive note, competition is good for the state. It forces the standard bearers to at least put a little effort into getting re-elected.
Mike is becoming the Harold Stassen of Delaware
OK, Mike P. This will be the third time I have posted these questions to you on a forum that you can answer them.
First Time
Second Time (and the comment immediately after that…
and the third time will be in the following comment…
Third time (is the charm, maybe)…in verbatum:
Question to you, Mike Protack. You’re so hell bent on being the answer to the ills,
– could you do this without being such a devisive figure going forward?
– Can you allow dissenting opinions to your views?
– Can you consider and/or formulate compromise when facing opposition to your views (when necessary, of course)?
– When faced with opposition of opinion or office, can you do so without scoffing in perceived offense?
– Can you accept that you may not have the popular vote for certain offices, but could for other offices?
– Can you accept that you may not have the popular vote for certain offices, but your ideologies could in fact be used to help rebuild (in other words, be a behind-the-scenes force)?
Honestly, Mike, I think you have workable ideas, but I have never met such an isolating figure as yourself. I’m not saying this to be an ass, but as a wakeup. I’m predicting you won’t even consider any of this, but I see that not so much condenscending as I do it as a failure to criticize self.
C’mon, Mike. There are indeed people like you that want to work with you, but your history of isolating your opposition and boxing them into labels has made you pretty much toxic.
Are you willing to work on that or more of the same?
uh oh. smitty wants to bring him to jesus.
Something tells me Jesus will be a lonely man.
Here are some suggestions for mike to run:
1 – on a treadmill
2 – out of delaware
3 – a dog walking service
4 – a temperature.