
This year's campaign for the Senate, pitting incumbent Democrat Kay Hagan against Thom Tillis, the former Speaker of the North Carolina House, is a perfect example of how a Democrat who has been a loyal supporter of Barack Obama is still in the running despite Obama's unpopularity. Of course, the Republicans in Washington haven't helped their own cause as they've done all in their power to degrade the Conservative base. And even the Tea Party added to the problem by its inability to get behind one good candidate, thereby resulting in two splitting the conservative vote and allowing Tillis, the Establishment choice, to win the Republican primary.
While Hagan has tried to distance herself from Obama, Tillis has run more or less as a Chamber of Commerce Republican and this has held his poll numbers down. He just doesn't have it in his soul to be a Reagan-type Republican and that is what is needed. But Conservative Governor McCrory has gone to bat for him and even Rand Paul has visited the state to help. And now, with Ebola sticking a sword in the side of Democrats, particularly regarding our open borders and the stubbornness with which Obama refuses to enact an African travel ban on flights, Tillis has been given a potent weapon to use against Hagan.
Hagan today finds her lead in the polls down to a paltry 1.4%, clearly within the margin of error. Showing signs of concern if not outright panic, today she finally reversed herself on the travel ban, now favoring its imposition on incoming flights from the Ebola impacted nations. Tillis has shown more energy of late and it might just be the luck of timing that the fear of Carolinians concerning the disease could put him over the top.
Although he's really not my "cup of tea" as a Republican, I hope he can win since even a moderate is certainly preferable to a Senator with a 97% pro-Obama voting rate. But I wish, oh how I wish, that the Establishment Republicans would in the future support successful conservative nominees for office with the same vigor they use to destroy them.
I hope Thom Tillis will take that approach himself and realize that Conservatism is the only hope for a rebirth of America. We can't survive much longer as a nation of squishy, stale politicians with no moral core. But for now, let's get Thom Tillis elected, send Kay Hagan back home to an early retirement and then work on enlightening him to the Conservative Way.