Remember Anthony Weiner, the disgraced US Rep. from New York’s 9th Congressional District? Weiner was forced out of office at the time and a special election was called for Sept. 11th, 2011.
A Democrat David Weprin was set up to take his Weiner’s place in that seat which had been held for 80 years by a Democrat.
At the time I got wind of a Conservative Republican who was thinking of entering the race to challenge him. His name was Bob Turner. I called up a # I found and reached his brother who was in the process of setting up a campaign HQ. They were operating on a shoestring and yet he was happy to talk with me.
He talked about the obstacles his brother had to overcome in this race. Of course the main one was the polling data which had Turner in the 30’s and Weprin in the 60's. Then there was the religious issue. Bob Turner is a Roman Catholic and Weprin is a Jew. The Jewish vote in the district made up 24% of the vote. The other thing was that the Republicans of NY were out of money and not willing to spend much to help Turner.
After talking with his brother, I came away knowing that Turner was a Conservative and willing to take the battle to Obama. Mayor Ed Koch started the ripple on the pond that turned into a tsunami for the support of Bob Turner. The Mayor was Jewish and his endorsement helped sway that crucial vote. (Imagine a famous Jewish Mayor telling his people to vote against a Jew in favor of a Roman Catholic) That took some guts on Koch’s part.
Mayor Koch did this because he could no longer live with the “anti-Israel” appearing agenda of Obama. This race turned into a referendum of the Obama administration. From the Israely thing to the huge debt, unemployement and Obamacare.
Bob Turner ran against the policies of Obama. He labled Weprin as a rubber stamp for the leftist policies of Obama. Obama’s policies on Obama care and the national debt were the grist for Turner’s miraculous upset of David Weprin come election day.
There were a lot of other factors and famous New Yorkers coming down on Turner’s side but the point was a district that defeated Turner by a wide margin in the past, turned a district that had voted solid Democrat for 80 years into a Republican Seat, due to the terribly unpopular policies of newly elected President Obama .
After the call I made to his brother, and some research, I sent him a $25.00 donation and started blogging about this newcomer. I was overwhelmed by this upset come election day.
Well guess what, NY is run by Democrats and they after that upset set about redistricting out the 9th District. Bob Turner now had no district!!!
I got the email below from the campaign a few days ago. Bob Turner is running for US. Senate. There will be a primary fight on the Republican side to see who will run against the Democrat incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand.
-----email-----
Statement from U.S. Representative Bob Turner
March 13, 2012
"I will travel to the Republican State Convention in Rochester later this week and humbly ask for the Republican nomination for the United States Senate. I will respectfully ask for the Conservative nomination a few days later at that Party's convention. I have made my intentions known to the other Republican candidates in this race.
"I ran for the House six months ago as a private citizen fed up with what is happening in Washington. I could not sit and watch career politicians sink my nation deeper into economic crisis. Brooklyn and Queens voters, of all political parties, graciously responded by sending me to Congress. It now appears that their district has been eliminated.
"There is serious work to be done to get this economy back on track, and I will not walk away from that work now. I will run for the Senate, and I will run to win."
Paid for by Bob Turner for Congress
PO Box 140016, Howard Beach, NY 11414
www.BobTurnerForCongress.com
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Here is what Bob Turner said about the US Senator from NY.
“Senator Kirsten Gillibrand does not deserve re-election. She defrauded the voters of this state with promises that she would act as a moderate,” he said. “Instead she has governed from the far left, and is now ranked the most liberal senator in America. That is a firing offense.”
-----link to the above quote-----
http://foresthills.patch.com/articles/turner-secures-gop-senate-nomination
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Well in Mi. we know about Liberal Senators. Debbie Stabenow used to be the most liberal, so now it’s Debbie and Kirsten sharing that dubious distinction. I would love to not see either in the Senate next year.
One thing is certain however, the Democrat Machine in NY will not be taken by surprise this time. Kirsten already has started bashing Turner. Just a couple days ago she put our an email fundraising letter trying to link Turner and Rush Limbaugh together. If this Senate seat is taken by Turner from Gillibrand then the Republicans will most assuredly win back the Senate. But what a battle it might be.
Turner is biting off a huge fight in this effort. First he has to win the nomination, and spend scant resources to do that. He has two so far to beat and at least one of them calls herself a Conservative. I have yet to research them.
Next he’ll have to fight an incumbent Senator that has not been disgraced and is willing to fight back using the same tactics Turner used in his previous upset. She also, if the election appears close will get the full support of the NY and DNC political machines. Democrat Mayor Koch who was so instrumental before for Turner is on the side of Gillibrand. In the article below you'll see also that the NY Conservative group is backing Wendy Long for the primary. But the Manhatten GOP have just endorsed Turner. I’m hoping the big guns like Cuomo and Guliani will still help out Turner.
-----link-----
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2012/03/manhattan-gop-endorses-bob-turner-for-senate
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But the fact that is so surprising is that we are even talking about the possibility. The more votes Turner can win here will be less votes for Obama in this Dark Blue State.
Regards, Live Dangerously Be a Conservative
Here is the Wikipedia link for Bob Turner.
-----link-----
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Turner_(politician)
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PS. I usually pick one out of state race to put $25.00 of my money on and I think this Turner guy will get it again.
