Analysis On Campbell Missed Endorsement Last Night
Posted by Former Blogger Chris Emami on February 21, 2012
As you can see from the post written by my esteemed colleague Chris Nguyen, in a major surprise Congressman John Campbell failed to get the endorsement of the OC GOP.
I along with many others in attendance last night was shocked by the results of the vote, with John Campbell falling just 1 vote short of the endorsement. John Webb who is also running for this seat in the 45th Congressional District was also present in an effort to try to block the endorsement.
This particular endorsement began with John Campbell giving a speech on why he deserved the endorsement of the OC GOP. He pointed out that he had been a vocal member of the Republican Party for conservative causes in D.C. After he finished John Webb went up to speak and gave his reasons as to what he offered as a candidate for the seat.
Both men did a solid job in their opening statements and came across as intelligent advocates of conservative principles. Where things started to unravel a bit for Campbell was during the portion where members got to ask questions of the candidates. He was attacked for his positions on Cash For Clunkers, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and TARP.
I have a great deal of respect for Congressman Campbell for coming into a hostile environment and defending his position he took on these specific bills. I absolutely disagree with his position on TARP, but I respect the fact that he stands by the vote and gives his reasons for it.
One important note is that despite John Campbell having some solid supporters in his corner to speak up for him both Congressman Ed Royce and Congressman Dana Rohrabacher who were in attendance, yet failed to chime in on supporting him for the endorsement.
Nobody in Congress is perfect and overall John Campbell has been a solid conservative vote. I would have liked to have seen him get the endorsement of the OC GOP mainly because the last thing we need is for us to get stuck with Sukhee Kang in Congress.
John Webb seems like a really nice guy and a true conservative but I am behind John Campbell in this race and I hope that he can hold onto the seat. I recognize that we have a couple of Central Committee members as bloggers with us who likely differ with my opinion on this and I would like to encourage them to also post on this issue to give a different side of what went down last night.
OC Political 
junior said
I think that this development is funny as hell. Campbell is the least likeable member of the OC congressional delegation.
No GOP Fan said
Campbell’s support of TARP, by itself, should cost him his job. And as a car salesman, he should’ve known better about Cash for Clunkers. It’s long past time this District RIDS itself of establishment, machine-driven Republicans.
Good luck to John Webb!
The idea that Sukhee Kang is going to walk into this is simply wrong — it’s looking like a good primary fight is in order.
No GOP Fan said
http://johnwebb2012.net/
augustine25 said
I was there last night and witnessed the event. I was very surprised to see John Webb deny John Campbell the OCGOP endorsement. It was obvious that the Campbell people had done everything possible to make sure the endorsement went smoothly. To me, the big difference between the two candidates was Campbell’s vote to allow gays to serve openly in the military. Webb is a former Marine and thought that was a bad idea. Campbell seemed to have little interest in representing the district’s opinions and hinted that he had more time and more information to decide these matters that the amateurs like us in the audience. It was a very awkward moment for Campbell when he became the only incumbent to be denied the OCGOP endorsement.
Thomas Anthony Gordon said
One of the statements from Congressmember Campbell that caught my attention was when he proclaimed that we didn’t have all the information with regards to TARP and that he voted his conscious.
I sent an email asking Congressmember to attend OCGOP CC last night and I commend him for actually doing so.
But I hope he remembers that he wasnt sent to Washington DC to vote his conscious, but to vote as ours.
There is zero chance of Sukhee Kang winning as he only has 189,000 cash on hand to Congressmember Campbell’s million plus.
And Congressmember Campbell beat Beth Krom 60% to 46% in 2010 and he beat Steve Young 56% to 41% in 2008.
John Webb had a message that resonates with Americans- smaller government, more freedoms, less wasteful giveaways and fewer taxes, more jobs. I’m hopeful Congressmember heard the message of John Webb
junior said
Well said Thomas – I hope that he heard and heeds the message. Is this a top 2 election? – it could be Campbell and Webb in the general if so. That could be interesting.
Ocpoliticsblog said
How’s your pick for OC Supervisor, Harry Sidhu, doing? Oh that’s right, he got blown out by Shawn Nelson.
If you are opposed to Campbell now that is surely good news for his reelection campaign.
Dead County said
Ed Royce had to leave to write about Pakistan for the local Red County blog.
Ocpoliticsblog said
Well I hope you guys are happy now. http://ocpoliticsblog.com/o-c-democrats-applaud-gop-homophobes-who-rejected-campbell-endorsement/
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