Establishment Candidate Charlie Bass Trounced in Straw Poll
Bass campaign having trouble gaining support from Republican base
Concord - This weekend, Republican Congressional candidate Charlie Bass was trounced in a straw poll attended by over 100 GOP Party activists. He received only 13 votes while his opponents Jennifer Horn and Bob Guida received 55 and 36 votes respectively.
Bass's poor showing supports comments made by former Republican Party Chair Fergus Cullen in April. Cullen told CQ's Roll Call magazine, that while "Being the candidate of the Washington establishment is not quite the kiss of death," it is "certainly not something that any candidate wants to run on this year." (CQ, 4/27/2010)
"Clearly Charlie Bass's 12 year career of voting for reckless spending and skyrocketing deficits as a Republican insider in Washington is still on voters' minds," said Harrell Kirstein, press secretary for the New Hampshire Democratic Party. "New Hampshire voters rejected Bass's last attempt to make a career out of Congress and they will do it again."
From the day Bass was sworn into office till the day he left, the deficit nearly doubled, increasing by 3.8 trillion dollars. He voted multiple times for the irresponsible Bush tax cuts benefiting only the richest Americans (HR 4297, HR2), for spending the social security surplus(S CON RES 95), and for the reckless FY2007 budget that increased the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars (H CON RES 376).
After being voted out of Congress, Bass spent the last four years working for the Republican Main Street Partnership, a D.C. lobbying group that backed the Wall Street bailout. (RepublicanMainStreet.org) And during the first few months of his 2010 campaign, he has brought in Texas Congressman and BP apologist Joe Barton to campaign for him at an event.
"While Bass is futilely trying to reinvent himself this year, his political tricks wont fool New Hampshire voters in the second Congressional district," continued Kirstein. "Despite his repeated attempts to woo the Republican base and pander to the far right fringe of his party, Bass's campaign clearly still isn't gaining any steam."
When Bass kicked off his campaign he announced his love for the Tea Party movement saying, "God bless every single one of them. Their agenda is exactly the same as mine." Just days later, the Concord Monitor editorialized on what an outrageous reversal his claim was, (Concord Monitor, 2/25/2010)
"Tea Party Charlie can make all the false claims he wants," added Kirstein. "His record of supporting reckless spending, big oil, and not standing up for New Hampshire citizens is clear. He is a D.C. insider, directed a lobbying group, and it appears that the Republican Party is rejecting his attempt to once again make a career out of serving in Congress. "
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