In the course of doing some research for that post, I've been looking at the poll numbers for the November U.S. Senate race. No offense to Col. Maness or his supporters, but he needs to follow the lead of Rep. Paul Hollis and get out of this race. I know that Sarah Palin has endorsed Maness, and I know that the Tea Party loves him, and he's probably the best man for the job in all honesty. I like his credentials a lot.
But.
He's not getting the numbers.
True, Maness has picked up some important endorsements lately:
The remaining Republican opponent for Cassidy is Colonel Rob Maness, a 32-year Air Force veteran. Maness has been endorsed by leading Tea Party and conservative organizations. He received a major boost when he was endorsed by former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who frequently tangles with the establishment wing of the Republican Party. He has also picked up support from the Senate Conservative Fund and the Tea Party Express. Today, he was endorsed by the Family Research Council and their PAC Chairman Tony Perkins, former Louisiana State Representative. Perkins is a leader in the social conservative movement in Louisiana and is closely associated with pro-life and pro-family organizations in the state.
This endorsement should end the discussion of Maness dropping out of the Senate race. Many Cassidy supporters have been pushing for Maness to end his campaign, so Republicans can “unite” behind the Congressman. This endorsement is the latest sign that the Colonel is not going anywhere as Perkins surely would not have endorsed a candidate who is not fully committed to the race until the end.
And maybe this will spike Maness's numbers but I'm not seeing it. Rep. Cassidy might be a RINO, as evidenced by his support for Obamacare, but it seems to me that he's the only person that's going to beat Landrieu and if we don't do ANYTHING else, we have to defeat Landrieu.
To nobly stand behind a candidate that can't win won't help us in the long run.
This goes against everything I know: I usually vote for the conservative candidate no matter what the establishment GOP says. The establishment GOP usually picks RINOS (see Crist v. Rubio). But drastic times call for drastic measures. There are still about 2.5 months in the campaign, and with Flight-Gate now in the news cycle Landrieu's numbers can be expected to dip slightly. I don't think it will cause a major drop in her numbers because the general public doesn't follow this sort of thing much.
While one would have hoped that the conservative Maness could have pulled this one off, the numbers don't show any possibility, the race is too close, and the stakes for the future and continued existence of our country are too high.
It makes me sad, but reality bites.
