The Savage Republican

It looks like the Savage Republican's are not the only ones upset with the direction and leadership of the Republican Party (See one of our early posts on the subject here)
When we starting seriously discussing a need for a change back in March, we hoped to find someone to run against the current chair (The Fourth Rules of Savage Politics: It is easy to be against something, a Savage Republican must find or offer an alternative)
By the time we were ready (and had the votes) to get something done at convention at least one alternative appeared.
Various reports have seen the race as either too close to call or leaning towards Ron (based on his polling).
Well in the past few days, a number of events have come together and momentum seems to be building against Ron.

1st, a poorly conceived letter was received from the current chairs of the house caucus. This was met by either a yawn or a quick rebuttal (see reprint here)

2nd, I came home to find a message from Ron Carey annoucing his candicy for chair - he stated "the time for a change leadership". While I know nothing about his positions, the fact that a current member of the executive committee calls for a change is a big deal indeed.

and then today -
Another letter, this one from not one but six current and former executive members saying that it was time for a change in leadership.

Now the big question is not if we will replace Ron, but who will replace him.
The State Central Meeting on June 11th will be fun indeed.

And what does this do for Hoplins bid for Vice Chair - Since he hooked his wagon to Ron, I would hope his bid is gone also.
He seems to suffer from the same problem as Ron - lack of connection to the grassroots.
While we often hear about how many people he has recruited, those of us who were in the trenches during the last election know how false those numbers were - when it came to help at the grassroots level.
He seemed more interested in getting numbers not worrying too much why they were joining or if they would turn out when needed.
For all the talk about the thousands of volunteers, When called upon all you saw from the College Republicans was Flip and Flop and two other recruits.
Things were so bad in CD2 that we actually had to divert campaign funds to hire a professional liaison to work with youth, since the CR was no where to be found.
There are many good CR chapters on our local campuses, but I think their success has more to do with those leaders and support from the Northern Alliance, then anything Hoplin could claim credit for. While he did do a good job of bringing attention to the College Republicans (and himself also), when it can time to deliver - nothing.

Stay tuned for more - The upcoming rules meeting should shed some light on what the Chair may be planning to do - will he read the writing and go quietly - or will he try and pull some last minute trick to try and hold onto his seat.

(Of course after seeing how well he did for the party late in 2004, not sure anyone need to worry)