Search Results for: tom cole deathwatch

Traditionally, chairpersons of the National Republican Congressional Committee get to serve two terms. Current NRCC Chair Tom Cole had a pretty painful cycle, losing three special elections this year and at least another 23 seats this week (while taking back four deep red seats), so it’s no surprise that he wants another bite at the apple — he would love desperately to redeem himself in 2010, when the GOP has a chance to take a few of these seats back.

The only problem? House Minority Leader John Boehner is saying: “Nuh-uh!” From Roll Call:

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) has endorsed Rep. Pete Sessions (Texas) for chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee over NRCC Chairman Tom Cole (Okla.), who is seeking another term at the head of the committee.

Boehner’s public support of Sessions comes one day after Cole appealed to the House Republican Conference for a second term helming the committee, and the Minority Leader’s support could prove crucial to Sessions’ chances of winning the post in the upcoming leadership elections.

“Tom Cole has guided the NRCC through a difficult time for our party, and I’m sincerely grateful for his service to our team. But I believe having Pete Sessions at the helm of the NRCC in the next cycle will give House Republicans our best shot at rebuilding a majority coalition,” Boehner said in a statement. “Pete has the skills needed to recruit top-tier candidates and give them the support they need to challenge a Democratic Congress that has been bought and paid for by liberal special interests. We need Pete Sessions at the leadership table as the next chairman of the NRCC.”

Tom Cole finally dead? Stay tuned…

Faced with the likelihood of unprecedented November losses and piss-poor fundraising, the NRCC has been forced to make some very hard choices lately, including ones to cut the plug on GOP Reps. like Marilyn Musgrave, Tom Feeney, Michele Bachmann, and Joe Knollenberg. Understandably, though, some major GOP allies are furious with NRCC Chair Tom Cole for abandoning some staunch social conservatives without so much as a life preserver.

From The Hill:

The Family Research Council’s (FRC) political arm ripped Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) Thursday for withdrawing ad spending on behalf of two endangered Republican candidates.

FRC President Tony Perkins said in a letter to Cole, chairman of the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC), that the committee “is abandoning social conservative candidates” by pulling ads from the reelection races of Reps. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.) and Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.). […]

Perkins, an influential conservative leader, said in his letter that he believes Cole, whose committee has been hemorrhaging money in an uphill battle against Democratic congressional candidates, “made a grave error in judgment” by pulling ads from Musgrave’s and Bachmann’s districts.

“The left is attacking both of these outstanding women because they are true conservatives,” Perkins said. “They vote pro-life and pro-family.”

Perkins wrote that both candidates are in “winnable districts,” and that “pulling funds from their campaigns sends the wrong message to their supporters and gives their opponents a chance to produce headlines that the NRCC has undermined these campaigns.”

“This is no time to cut and run from a fight,” Perkins wrote.

He added that he will “urge supporters” of the FRC to stop contributing to the NRCC “until it starts supporting and fighting for conservative candidates in close races.”

Time’s almost up, Mr. Cole.

Tom Cole dead? Not quite, but John Boehner definitely just took some advice from Bob Barker and spayed his NRCC Chair:

• The NRCC will now wade into competitive GOP primaries when appropriate. This is a significant shift, as Cole’s policy has been to stay out of such contests even when the party believes one candidate would clearly be the best general election bet. In Illinois and Louisiana in particular, Republicans suffered because they fielded a poor nominee. The race to replace retiring Rep. Vito Fossella (R) in New York, which could draw several GOP contenders, could be the first high-profile test of the new policy.
• There will be an “audit” of the three special election losses conducted by two as-yet-unnamed Republican lawmakers, designed to figure out what went wrong and how to avoid repeating those mistakes in the future. This could be an embarrassing exercise for Cole and his top staff, but they agreed to it, likely because they didn’t have a choice.
• The party will step up its efforts to establish special fundraising committees for seats with contested GOP primaries occurring late in the season, which will raise cash that will automatically go to the eventual nominees. This fairly common practice will prevent those nominees from starting the general election race at a financial disadvantage after a costly primary. This effort will be led by Rep. Pete Sessions (Texas), who lost to Cole in the race to chair the NRCC for this Congress. (Emphasis added.)

Oh, and one of the two “auditors” will be Tom Davis, who just wrote a scathing memo about the GOP’s problems as a party. I’d be surprised if his report on Cole is any less harsh.

Cole is in denial mode, though, flatly contradicting Boehner by announcing that, with regard to primaries, NRCC “policy hasn’t changed. There seems to be some confusion about that.” And just to prove he’s utterly delusional, he invoked Lou Gherig:

I feel like I’m the luckiest guy in the conference to have this job.

And we feel lucky to have you, too, Tommy.

Call it the “Deathwatch Watch” – the Hill writes about us:

Swing State Project, a blog focused on congressional races from the 2004 swing states, started the “Tom Cole Deathwatch” in March, after Democrat Bill Foster won former House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s (R-Ill.) old seat in a special election. The blog updated the “deathwatch” last week, asking readers to guess how long it would be before Cole was ousted.

The optimism among liberal blogs over this year’s congressional races is in stark contrast to the mood of conservatives.

“Unless congressional Republicans plan on making a dramatic course correction on Iraq withdrawal, SCHIP [the State Children’s Health Insurance Program], healthcare reform and fair trade, they’re in for a world of hurt in November,” said James Lambert, one of Swing State Project’s editors.

The premise for the article, though, is that rightwing bloggers are furious with Cole and want to see him get booted. Given how utterly impotent the conserative blogosphere is, this probably means that Cole is actually more likely to stay on.

In fact, a separate Hill piece about the Republicans who (well, sorta) matter – ie, the House Republican caucus – suggests that Cole (and John Boehner) are safe. That’s why I love this deathwatch – we win whether Cole stays or goes.

Depending on who you talk to, it sure sounds like John Boehner and crew want to send Tom Cole’s sorry ass packing — and fast.  From The Hill:

Speculation continued to swirl that some members of the leadership team want to remove Cole and install Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), a former NRCC chairman, as his replacement. One former senior GOP leadership aide close to the leadership team said there have been  “quiet conversations” with Davis about taking the NRCC chairmanship, and that GOP leaders believe he will do so if asked.

Finding an appropriate way to get rid of Cole, though, remains the primary obstacle, the source said.

“Leadership can’t fire Tom Cole,” the former staffer said. “If they could, yes, they would. It doesn’t appear that the conference wants to self-initiate, but people at the leadership table think he needs to step down and he needs to step down soon.”

Thursday afternoon, the source said, leaders were trying to find a way to pressure Cole to make several changes at the party committee that he may not be able to stomach, such as firing staff and accepting new hires of the leaders’ choosing. Leaders want the change at the top to occur before the Memorial Day recess, sources said.

You may recall that, last September, Cole threatened to resign after Boehner attempted to force some personnel changes at the NRCC.  So this would be a roundabout way of showing Cole the door.

How long do you give Cole?  Two weeks?  Or another six months?

From The Hill:

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) chastised his colleagues Tuesday for not contributing to the GOP candidate in an increasingly crucial Mississippi special election, saying those who have not helped “ought to be ashamed of themselves,” Republican sources said.

The harsh admonition from the head of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) was the latest rallying cry from GOP campaigners, who have repeatedly cited a lack of enthusiasm and giving from members. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) told his colleagues earlier this year that they needed to get off their “dead asses” and raise money for the NRCC. […]

In another conservative district in Mississippi, the vast majority of members have not given to Southaven Mayor Greg Davis (R), even after he nearly lost to Democrat Travis Childers late last month.

Remember when John Boehner hollered at his fellow caucus-members to get off their “dead asses“? It looks like that necrotic Republican ass-flesh is staying firmly put:

Senior Republicans have ignored the impassioned plea of House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) that they help the party raise more money for the November election.

While the ranking Republicans of several committees have given tens of thousands of dollars to the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), others have given nothing or very little.  

…

The appeal eventually moved Rep. Jim McCrery (La.), the senior Republican on the Ways and Means Committee. He gave $100,000 to the NRCC from his personal campaign account on the last day of March. He gave $500,000 in 2007.

But other ranking Republicans have not given anything since Boehner’s pep talk.

McCrery, of course, is retiring, so he doesn’t even need the money.

Anyhow, no matter that the exhortation came from Boehner, Tom Cole will almost inevitably take the blame for the NRCC’s shoddy performance, as well he should. But could misfortune eventually redound to Boehner as well? May the gods of schadenfreude smile upon us!

From The Hill:

Some GOP insiders have bemoaned the NRCC’s recruiting shortcomings. One top GOP consultant said the effort has “been a disaster.”

“The approach to recruiting has been weak, and it’s driven by a staff that doesn’t know the districts they’re recruiting in,” the consultant said. “[Chairman Tom] Cole [Okla.] can’t do everything, and he’s been let down by those who serve him.”