The Three Musketeers

The June 3^rd primaries are almost upon us so I have decided that I shall share my thoughts on the GOP candidates that are vying for the privilege of challenging Tom Harkin in November. There are three Republican candidates that are vying for this nomination; they include former State Representative George Eichhorn, political newcomer Christopher Reed, and political newcomer Steve Rathje. Whichever candidate wins they will have to challenge Democratic incumbent Tom Harkin. I will warn you now, this is going to be my impression of these three candidates based on the information that the Iowa Brigade has gathered from them and online sources.

The first candidate that I am going to rant about is Steve Rathje. Rathje is a businessman that had the vision to see a need and he filled. He has been very successful in business and now feels like he should apply those same business principles to the government. A noble cause indeed, but we just recently had a presidential candidate that espoused those same feelings handily defeated in the Iowa Caucus. Iowans want a candidate that truly shares their moral and social viewpoint. That is something that Mr. Rathje has failed to articulate to the voters around the state. I have had the opportunity to hear Rathje speak on one occasion and I was not impressed. To me he seemed like a living breathing Ken doll, a plastic man so to speak. I have heard reports that he uses the exact same speech at a variety of campaign events. This leads me to believe that unless he has a speech written before him, he could not deliver one. Mr. Rathje does make the claim to the title of social conservatism and we must take him at his word due to the lack of previous political experience. He does not have a voting record that we can go back to research to determine his true goals and values. One thing that troubles me about Steve, that is the fact that the Iowa Brigade sent Mr. Rathje questions that he replied by saying those were answered on his website. Mr. Rathje, could you not remember the positions that you have taken, could you not openly state them via an email? This scares me in that it could mean the positions that he has taken may not truly be his positions. They could simply be a way for him to pay lip service to the legion of real conservatives that inhabit Iowa. Could I vote for Mr. Rathje? Yes I could. Would I make him my first pick; will I choose him on June 3^rd? You will just have to wait and see.

http://iowabrigade.wordpress.com/category/steve-rathje/

http://steverathje.com/index.htm

George Eichhorn is the next candidate that I am going to lay bare for all to see. Mr Eichhorn is the one true verifiable conservative in the race. He has a voting record that belies the fact that he has consistently voted in favor each and every conservative issue that came through the statehouse. What bothers me about Eichhorn is that he failed to launch a campaign website until a few weeks ago. Why did he wait so long to do this? How committed is he to winning this battle? He has come out of the corner swinging so to speak and he has done it in convincing fashion by attacking Harkin instead of his opponents. I like that. Another thing that I have noticed is that his supporters are a rabid bunch. I have noticed that there has been a lot of support for Mr. Eichhorn on the internet. You can see this in the amount of pro-Eichhorn posts on the various Iowa blogs. Can I vote for Mr. Eichhorn? Yes. Am I going to vote for him in the June 3^rd primary? If I told you now would you want to read the rest of my post?

http://iowabrigade.wordpress.com/category/george-eichhorn/

http://www.george2008.com/

Christopher Reed. He is another newcomer to the political arena. Mr. Reed is a veteran of the Navy having served during the dark days of the Clinton administration in the personnel office. When Mr. Reed left the Navy he took the skills that he learned there and applied them to the private sector launching his own business in Cedar Rapids. Mr. Reed has also laid claim to the conservative mantle. He answered Iowa Brigade questions in a way that put him firmly in the strong conservative camp. The Iowa Brigade also had an individual at the second district convention; she was very impressed with the way that Mr. Reed spoke. We have had personal email correspondence with Mr. Reed on several occasions and found him to be extremely responsive to our questions and comments. Mr. Reed is another strong candidate for the nomination to challenge the overly liberal Tom Harkin. Could I vote for Mr. Reed in the General Election? That would be an emphatic yes. Will I vote for him in the June 3^rd primary? Read on to find the answer to that question.

http://iowabrigade.wordpress.com/category/christopher-reed/

http://www.christopherreed2008.com/

There you have it. These are the three candidates that are vying for the honor of challenging Harkin in the general election in November. All three have strong points to recommend them. I do not think that I can vote for Rathje in the primary. To me his conservatism seems to be a window dressing. He seems to be the type of candidate that whose beliefs will go whatever direction the wind is blowing. I don’t know that this would happen; this is just my take on Mr. Rathje. At first Mr. Eichhorn forced me to believe that his campaign wasn’t serious about winning the election. His almost daily email updates has begun to change my mind, however there are still doubts lingering in the back of mind as to whether he is serious about his campaign. Mr. Reed has been very responsive to our questions and concerns and he seems to be a very dedicated and young individual. I feel that his youthfulness is something that is lacking in our government right now.  He seems to be dedicated to the conservative cause and he has already shown that he is willing to work hard. For this reason I have to declare that at this point in time that I will throw my support behind Republican United States Senate Candidate Christopher Reed. I will be voting for Mr. Reed in the June 3^rd primary. I would like to caution my readers at this time that my mind may be subject to change depending Mr. Reed’s actions and any revelations that we may discover between now and then. But for now vote for Christopher Reed for Senate.