I got an e-mail from John Hager’s reelection campaign today:
Conservative icon Ollie North has joined the Hager team sending an important letter endorsing John Hager. Conservatives in Virginia know that Ollie North stands firm on his principles and won’t allow his friends to be attacked and maligned without standing to defend them.
The really interesting thing is that I got this e-mail at all. The only Republican mailing list I’ve ever signed up for is the RPV’s.
I worked as a volunteer for Ollie in Hampton, Virginia back in 1994. Onelection day, it was cold and damp but many of us really believed that Ollie had a fighting chance. However, with the “old guard” headed by John Warner running a renegade third candidate, Marshall Coleman, the vote split went Robb’s way: Robb 45% Ollie 43% and Coleman 11%.
It is ironic to hear that Ollie is now supporting the same “old guard” that includes many of the same characters who bolted the GOP and supported Coleman rather than have him in the Senate. Poor Ollie.
While John Hager supported the ticket, many of these Coleman supporters are now in Hager’s camp for the Chairman’s race. I wish that I could get through to these folks supporting Mr. Hager that we are not voting against him, as much as we are aware that if our Party does not change, and quick, we will see this current losing trend continue.
Jeff Frederick will recruit younger candidates to the GOP and he will be far more effective at outreach to Asian and Latino voters, while shoring-up the traditional family-values base. The fact is that Jeff Frederick has what it takes to move the Party forward into this new Century. The time has come, Mr. Hager, for the torch of leadership to be passed to a new generation of leaders in the Virginia GOP.
We are all deeply grateful for your years of fighting for Republicans all across our state, yet we also collectively sense that we are at a time where the mantle of leadership must be handed to a highly energetic leader, such as Jeff Frederick, for the good of the Republican Party of Virginia.
Yeah, how about that, huh? I’m a delegate, and I don’t appreciate Hager’s people using official RPV lists and resources to prop up his re-election bid.