Sayre challenge
Brent Finnegan -- February 15th, 2007
Last month Scott Sayre said he was thinking about challenging incumbent Hanger for the Republican nomination.
Now it’s for sure. He’ll be at the Shickel Corporation in Bridgewater at 4pm on Monday to officially announce his challenge to Hanger. He’ll more-than-likely cite Hanger’s “tax and spend” voting record as reason to unseat him.
My guess: he won’t even come close. GOPHokie explains why, listing Hanger’s advantages. Hanger’s roots go rock deep in that district, and most Republican voters really don’t care that much about his tax record, because he doesn’t rock the boat on social issues. Last year it was rumored that Saxman would take on Hanger, which obviously never materialized. I don’t know much about Sayre’s political skills, but I’m thinking if Saxman figured he couldn’t do it, Sayre won’t be able to either.
-finnegan
Sometimes swept under the rug (or simply forgotten) is the fact that Hanger shouldn’t even be running for re-election in the 24th. I’m far from a political pundit, but I’m willing to bet that Hanger could have won the race for Lt. Governor. Of course his run was derailed when he failed to get his paperwork in on time. I wish I was there, the media accounts made it sound like a hilarious string of events that afternoon.
Emmett seems like a good guy, but he does not appear to play politics very well. Reminds me a bit of Joe Fitzgerald and we all know what (unfortunately) voters did to him. Why do voters claim they want a candidate with an open mind, but when those candidates use that open mind and change an opinion or vote they are labeled a flip-flopper and then crucified for it? Politics stink and I thank Joe and the others that got into it for the right reasons.
Hey, Finnegan, do I have to sit here and take this personal stuff? ;->
Thanks, daytonres.
Yes, this muckraking must cease immediately! ;)
I agree with you about the open mind thing, Daytonres. Like I said, I don’t think most Republican voters in the 24th care that much about his tax record. The ones calling him a “flip-flopper” are the conservative insiders and Republican bloggers.
Hanger is just one of many VA moderates in the cross hairs of their own party this year.
Calling Sen. Hanger a “moderate” is a big stretch. Sure, he voted for Warner’s budget, and he doesn’t support using education money and borrowing to put a band-aid on our roads.
But this is the same guy who suggested we castrate sexual offenders and has voted consistently with the Family Foundation. He’s very socially conservative and only a fiscal moderate. And as I said on EE, he’s not going to lose: he is “Mr. Augusta County.”
True, everything is relative. According to FOX News, Giuliani is a liberal, so…
Whether he is or not, Hanger has been labeled a moderate by the fiscal conservatives. Sayre and Sime would not be challenging him if that were not the case. It’s definitely more of a fiscal issue than a social one.
Hey Finnegan, can you tell me where you got this info about Sayre announcing at Shickel Monday?
If I could, I would post permalinks to WSVA, but the way their site is set up I can’t. As I’ve said many times before, WSVA’s website needs to be redesigned. I don’t see why they don’t just have a blog, and do away with that news page altogether. Blogs are “the wave of the now.”
Here’s something in The New Dominion that was posted today after I posted this.