NC-11: Local Republicans Not Feeling the Mumpower

In the wake of Republican candidate Carl Mumpower’s suspension and resurrection of his campaign, the Republican organizations of three counties in North Carolina’s 11th district are formally severing ties with the “unique” candidate:

Party officials in Polk and Jackson counties made public Wednesday that their organizations had voted to sever ties with the controversial Republican candidate.

The news comes in the wake of Henderson County’s announcement Tuesday that the county party was no longer coordinating with Mumpower’s campaign. […]

Jackson County Republican Party Chairwoman Dodie Allen said she and her party have been upset with Mumpower for weeks, prompting them to vote unanimously to sever ties. The county’s GOP leaders were particularly incensed when Mumpower said he would support the impeachment of President Bush for not enforcing immigration laws, Allen said.

“We were much opposed to that method of disagreement to chop his head off,” Allen said. “You might as well shoot him in the head with a .45.”

The response was classic Mumpower:

“Angry, wounded elephants tend to run in circles,” a defiant Mumpower told the Times-News in a phone interview Wednesday. “One cannot effect change if one is not willing to take the heat. These counties are giving me heat, and I can take it.”

Say, I wonder: Is our good friend Ken Spain over at the NRCC still “excited about him winning the nomination”? I’m sure he’s thrilled. After all, the NRCC has put together “one of the best Republican recruitment classes in quite some time”, and Democrat Heath Shuler was one of their top targets at the start of the cycle.

SSP currently rates this race as Safe Democratic.