Libertarian Candidate Makes Run For Tegerdine Voters
Shortly after last Tuesday’s primary, Libertarian candidate Tim Hampton posted this on his blog: “With Joe’s (Tegerdine) ouster from the MS-04 race last night by Steven Palazzo, I’m the lone remaining libertarian- and Constitutionally-minded candidate left in the race.”
Not that Tegerdine wasn’t a Republican, but he was certainly cut from the libertarian mold similar to a Ron Paul- and someone like Hampton. And while it would be impossible to pigeon hole which direction his 11,000 or so voters will go a fair statement would say a good many of those votes are up for grabs. And the same goes with the Tea Party and 912 groups in South Mississippi who endorsed Tegerdine. I don’t know of any groups affiliated with the Tea Party movement supporting a third-party candidate over a credible Republican, but it could certainly happen. Same goes with some of Tegerdine’s most ardent supporters and campaign volunteers.
Of course, Palazzo is and will be courting those voters as well, and will be doing so with considerably more money. At the same time, Palazzo will need every vote he can find in the uphill battle against Rep. Gene Taylor. Having to fight off Hampton- in addition to going after Taylor- would not bode well for the Republican.
The question remains to be answered. How can Steven Palazzo defeat Gene Taylor? Steven has run on the promise of not voting for Nancy Pelosi. Your previous article stated: “About his vote for Nancy Pelosi, Taylor maintained that he supports her because of her promise to support the multi-peril bill Taylor has championed since Katrina. He said if she breaks that promise, they he would “certainly not be voting for her.”
I will admit that Steven has as much credibility with the voters now as Gene Taylor. I believe each of them equally. Who is the most conservative candidate? Perhaps a Gene Taylor who has been lied to by Nancy Pelosi would be more effective than Steven Palazzo even if they were equally conservative. Lots of questions to be answered over the next few months and Tim Hampton will get a fair share of those questions unless the major parties try to squeeze the other candidates out.
Just curious are there or have there ever been any Libertarian officeholders in Mississippi above the municipal level? Joe said “winning is everything” so how can we win with Tim? I’m sorry I for one am not going to lend any support to the Pelosi – Obama regime. That is what we do when we either vote for Gene or for someone like Tim who has zero chance. In my view it amounts to the same thing. I respect those who want to vote for principle to sleep better at night and all of that, but I would sleep better at night with at least one of the houses controled by the other party to help stifle the socialist agenda. I will be supporting the Republican nominee.
You’re right. I can say that from experience. I feel better voting on principle, but not because I’m trying to pump my chest and say look at me I’m the guy with more principle than the rest of the electorate. One day, if we truly want to dramatically return this nation back to its constitutionally limited size, we will all have to vote on principle. Why not start today? It seems voters tend to elect candidates with the same kind of mentality that our past few treasury secretaries and FOMC members have exhibted as they have only printed more false capital and lowered interest rates for quick stimulus instead of relying on sound currency and letting the market set its own rates for the purpose of allowing the human system or organically correct itself. For most of us plain old Americans, freedom and constitutional adherence are popular ideas. Let’s not kill them for another major party stimulus package.
Perhaps if Palazzo had been a little more sensitive to the fact that he would probably need Tegerdine’s voters to beat Gene, then he might not have done some of things he did….Phil Bryant’s flippant remarks at the end in his endorsement of Palazzo, implying that Tegerdine is not “one of us’…whether one of us means Mississippians or Republicans….really po’d alot of Tea Party people who had previously, and I say that loudly—PREVIOUSLY, supported Bryant. It will be hard for Palazzo to truly “court” those voters anyway, given his vote to allow government to take private property for economic development purposes.
Will Palazzo get some of Tegerdine’s voters??? Yes, sure . But, as you said, he is going to need EVERY vote he can get, and he certainly lost a few with his own behavior, and Phil Bryant lost another boatload for him.
I and most of the people I know will be supporting Palazzo even if some of us have to hold our noses. We are not going to throw away our vote on the Libertarian just because we lost a primary. That is stupid. It hurt but we will get over it. Besides the legalize drugs, legalize prostitution, gay marriage, open borders, cut and run ideas of the Libertarian party does not appeal to most of us even though we like the economic issues Tim will promote.
“Palazzo is and will be courting these voters…”
You sure arenlt from the coast…
someone please get Gov. Barbour’s “Party Unity” speech (the one he made just before doing the SP fundraiser) from SRLC and show it to Steven.
Barbour and Palazzo aren’t the sore losers who refuse to help the Republican party.
The “Republican Party” doesn’t mean anything. Look at the history of both major parties – party ideals and principles come and go because they’re not based on any consistent principles. Just like the “Democrat Party” their only goal is to manipulate the issues so that they can accumulate enough voters to beat the “Democrat Party”. Keep supporting the “Republican Party” simply because it’s the “Republica Party” and you’ll never get a fair and honest government.
It’s not that Tegerdine supporters have become sore losers – it’s that we’re sticking to the principles that we shared with Tegerdine. Palazzo obviously doesn’t share those principles – it just so happens that the Libertarian Party candidate, Tim Hampton, does.
Win or lose against Gene Taylor, Tegerdine’s principled grassroots movement was undermined by Palazzo, Barbour, and Bryant. Had Barbour and Bryant rallied behind the grassroots instead of hand-picking and rallying behind their inside guy, Tegerdine would easily defeat Gene Taylor in the debates. Palazzo can’t. Like I said below – he’ll get clobbered because his arguments aren’t grounded in principles and he doesn’t understand the issues. Watch and see.
My vote will continue to go toward the principles that are important to me and my family. Tim Hampton is my pro-life, pro-family, pro-private property, pro-gun rights, pro-national defense, non-interventionist, non-establishment, limited government/maximum liberty candidate.
And the only one happier than Hampton is Gene Taylor- but hey enjoy making your statement because your guy couldnt get it done.
Palazzo can’t beat Taylor. He doesn’t understand the issues well enough (not near like Tegerdine understood the issues) and doesn’t ground his arguments on anything whatsoever. Taylor will clobber Palazzo in their debate.
Seriously – CLOBBER, like grandmammy use to take a tennis racket to a dirty old rug hanging on the clothes line. Fwump! Fwump!
I met Tim Hampton in Laurel at the Veteran’s Memorial after the Memorial Day ceremony. He’s a good Christian conservative, he’s pro-life, pro-gun rights, pro-family, and believes in a strong national defense. And – he’s a lifelong resident of Hattiesburg, MS.
This corrupt D/R system we keep supporting every year (yes I’m guilty of it too) is as shameful as the increasing debt and all the growing foreign entanglements we’re passing on to our kids. At some point we should work towards fixing the mess we’ve helped create.
There is no doubt some Tegerdine supporters will support Tim. The only thing is they are not smart enough to know that Tim is being supported by the local democrats. The idea is to redirect anti Taylor votes away from the republicans. The stratagy is divide and conquer.