31st District Republicans Endorse Smith
Mar 18th, 2010 by Tennessee Walker
From my Kent Friends comes the news that the 31st District Republicans endorsed Ron Smith over Ron Poliquin. I am sure Dave Anderson will have some comments on this.
My take is that both candidates are solid conservatives. Either will be an improvement over the current Democrat incumbent.
Poliquin’s argument was that a new face is needed.
Smith’s argument is that he already has a record of fiscal conservatism as an elected official.
The above is probably too simplistic.
By all accounts Chairwoman Gigi Windley ran a fair and dignified presentation by both candidates and a fair and honest procedure for voting.
The desire for a district endorsement came largely from local Republicans who saw Republicans from outside the district being featured on Candidates’ web sites.
In short the local grass roots volunteers wanted their voices heard.
Thanks for getting the post up so quickly, your research was accurate. I am seeking reaction from both camps. I loved the format. The committee was notified almost a month in advance. Both campaigns agreed upon the date. Both were provided a list of all 32 voting members. 22 showed up and stayed. A representative of each campaign watched the count.
The best part was our forum. Each candidate gave a statement and then the floor was open to everyone to ask questions. There were no gavels. The candidates were able to dialogue and had what was called one of the finest policy discussions in memory. I am enthused about both candidates.
Ron Poliquin was excellent. He had a great command of the issues and a great speaking dynamic. He is a powerhouse candidate. With that said, I think Ron Smith was the best that I have seen him in years. He handled every question with a home run. I was really impressed. I thought that he won the night and it showed in the vote. For Smith, the endorsement was a deciding factor on whether or not he would run while Poliquin would have seen it as window dressing. I think that led to Mr. Smith taking the night to the next level. It met more to him.
If this is what we are going to get from these guys, it is hard to imagine losing.
Round one– Smith, but there are many more to go.