I know people still have time to vote today in the primary,
but I wanted to say congratulations to whoever wins.
This was my first time taking part in a primary under a
specific party and it sure was an exciting primary season.
Royal Rumble
This year we had a lot of candidates for the governor’s
race. Ten candidates at least, with a few more refusing to run. Bruce Cuff
pulled out of the race to throw his support over to Greg Wooldridge.
It was great to see so many passionate people who desired a
chance to get our state back on track. It would have been nice to see some of
these talented and worthy people aim at other offices so we can balance out the
state in other areas as well.
In the end we had three candidates who stood out above the
rest: Knute Buehler, Greg Wooldridge, and Sam Carpenter.
Rough and Tumble
This year was a rowdy primary season. Each of the front
runners had strengths and flaws in their campaign, which were exploited by the
other candidates.
Of course this created tensions between supporters of
different candidates who defended their preferred candidate with a passion and
love for their state.
Buehler was seen as a moderate, this would help win over
unaffiliated voters and disaffected Democrats, but created trouble with the
base Republicans who felt he was at odds on certain topics such as abortion and
the right to bear arms.
The Carpenter campaign seemed like an imitation Trump campaign.
Carpenter was ready for a street fight and his fighting spirit is admirable,
but his campaign was perhaps too eager for a fight. His campaign manager and a
brigade of supporters attacked anyone who dared to disagree.
As Republicans and conservatives we have had to
deal with these sort of tactics before from Progressive Democrats. This did not
sit well with many people but drew in those who were tired of establishment
Republicans that would seemingly roll over without a fight.
Wooldridge had lots of support but entered the race very
late. He did not have the time to get a solid campaign up and running. By the
time he started to become a contender most people had already chosen a
candidate to back. A boost came when Bruce Cuff withdrew from the race and
endorsed Wooldridge.
It would have been interesting to see Wooldridge as a
candidate if he had joined the race sooner, but his late entry was a major
handicap.
Good Game
At the end of each of my high school football games we would
line up on the 50 yard line and walk down the middle of the field and high five
the other team while saying good game. At the time I understood that it was
sportsmanship and the right thing to do, even if I did not fully understand
why.
Now, looking back, I understand the lesson taught by that
action. That even if we were playing against each other as hard as we could,
not giving an inch without a fight, we respected the other players. We did not
love them, or even liked them, but we shared a bond of giving our all for our
team while trying to win the game.
Each candidate fought a hard primary because we are all
passionate about our principles and our love for our state.
So I am here to say to the winner of the primary, whoever
that is, good game. The battle is over (or will be soon) and I will support you
in the next part of this contest.
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