dano asked:
>> Are there any moderate Republicans left?
>> Do they have a voice in their party's machine and machinations?
>
>
Heh, well, there's a support group for moderate Republicans: REPUBLICANS FOR KERRY http://groups.yahoo.com/group/republicansforkerry04/
As to voice...I can only speak for Harris County (Houston), Tx: No, tho' my sources say the moderate natives are restless...
- Deborah
----------------------------- There are still plenty of old-fashioned "moderate Republicans" around at the local and state levels in New England and the upper Midwest. FWIW, a friend of mine recently became a board member of the League of Women Voters in her heavily Republican county in southeastern Wisconsin. This is a place that has literally voted for each and every Republican presidential candidate since John C. Fremont. She reports that privately expressed opinion in this officially non-partisan group is running heavily for Kerry, to the point of near-unanimity. Many of these women are "country club" Republicans, and "moderate"--they're certainly pro-choice. According to my friend, the issues that especially animate these folks are the war (they HATE it) and the judicial appointments likely to be made in a second Bush term.
Another friend, a former lobbyist and now a development officer for a small non-profit, spends her days schmoozing with her monied donor base. This is a flintier crowd than the League of WV goo-goos--bankers, real estate developers, small manufacturers, and so on. She tells me that even a number of these people are shaking their heads over Shrub's antics. Not that they'll vote for a _Democrat_ or anything, but still...
This is pure impressionism and anecdotes, of course, but my sense is that the fourth estate and the punditocracy are running behind the country when they try to handicap this election. The ideology-driven pundits are one thing, but the beat reporters are so cowed by the long-running GOP tactic of "working the ref" (Alterman's phrase) that they often don't report, or probably even see what's there. Everything is interpreted in light of their pre-conceived notion that the yokels are all solidly behind Bush. The NYT had a piece a while ago about one of Bush's Midwestern tours, which touched on his visit to southwestern Wisconsin, and referred to his supposedly rapturous reception. Du-uuuh. Decent advance work will turn out a cheering crowd for any sitting president. Any so-called political reporter who thinks that down-at-the-heels and solidly Democratic LaCrosse County (where the chimp spoke) is rapturous about Bush needs to get off the fucking bus and spend a few days soaking up the local color. Rove & Co. are clearly worried. They see this thing slipping away, and have gone negative early and heavily. If Kerry's numbers hold up through the summer, look for a GOP slime barrage that will make 1988 look like the Lincoln-Douglass debates.
Jacob Conrad