Unless you live in Hawaii, you probably have no idea who he is. But if you follow politics, you’ll soon be hearing the name a lot more.

First, to be clear, Honolulu Councilman Charles Djou (R) has an extremely uphill battle for the seat in Hawaii’s 1st Congressional District. The district is heavily Democrat as far as voters go, and it’s been about two decades since a Republican held the seat.

But thanks to Democratic Rep. Neil Abercrombie, who is now running for Governor, the seat is vacant. There are a few things in play that could help Djou pull off an upset in the race.

First, Djou faces no primary challengers, and the Democrats are squaring off for a bruising three way fight between Ed Case, Colleen Hanabusa, and Mike Gabbard.

Many pundits and analysts believe even more Democrats will soon join the fight for the Democrat side of the ticket, forcing a costly primary election that could give Djou a healthy upper hand.

Second, as in the case of Massachusetts and Scott Brown, the political environment is absolutely toxic for Democrats. In 2008 the electorate voted for “change,” but were instead handed more of the same. A lot more of the same, in fact.

The tone seems to be one that suggests Democrats had an opportunity to prove their ability to actually change the rot in Washington, but instead they stunk it up even more.

Four weeks out from the special election on MA, everyone was saying the race was a lost cause for Republicans. This particular election has significant similarities to the Special Race in MA, and we believe it could result in a similar outcome.

-Eric Odom

In late 2009, Obama was pulling heavy for New Jersey’s embattled Corzine, and Republicans stomped the Democrats. That same day, Bill Owens won in the special election for NY-23.

Bill Owens won without a visit from Obama.

Then, in January of 2010, in a special election for the open U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts, Obama heavily stumped for Martha Coakley (D). As we all know, Republican Scott Brown took the seat with a comfortable lead.

The trend so far suggests that Barack Obama presents little to no help for Democrats. In fact, it appears as though his “help” does more damage than good.

In a recent Mason-Dixon Poll, Nevadans seem somewhat put off by Obama’s latest visit to Nevada in a stump for Harry Reid.

A larger percentage of voters surveyed (17 percent) said they would be less likely to vote for Reid following the president’s visit than said they would be more likely to vote for him (7 percent). Seventy-five percent said Obama’s visit would have no effect on how they vote.

I’ve only been back in Nevada for a few days, so I haven’t yet gotten a feel for how the general opinion of Obama is here in Las Vegas, but it sounds like Obama is quickly becoming more toxic than Bush was in the campaign years of his Presidency.

Only time will tell, of course, but the statistics show a very telling story unfolding.

Guess Who Else Had A Summit in Washington President Obama’s health care summit wasn’t the only example of political deafness this week. The Washington establishment also held a fundraiser for its hand-picked candidate to run against Chuck DeVore for U.S. Senate in California. For those paying close attention, this won’t come as a surprise. We’ve known for months that the same folks who originally backed Arlen Specter against Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania and who now support Charlie Crist against Marco Rubio in Florida have also been helping a candidate run against Chuck DeVore in California. The Old Guard in Washington is entitled to pick the candidates it likes best, but that doesn’t mean we have to go along. We can have our own online summit right now to help raise money for Chuck DeVore, which will help offset the establishment event in Washington. Contribute to Chuck DeVore’s Senate Campaign Chuck DeVore is gaining speed in the race to replace liberal Democrat Senator Barbara Boxer. DeVore continues to win over crowds as he travels throughout California with his principled message of conservative values. In fact, the latest Rasmussen Reports poll shows that DeVore has cut Boxer’s lead in half in just a few months. She led him by 10 points in November, but now she only leads by 5 points (47%-42%), nearly within the 4.5% margin of error. Chuck DeVore’s momentum isn’t just showing up in the polls. He was also recognized by the nation’s leading conservative columnist, George Will, who said DeVore would win the GOP primary. On ABC’s This Week, Will said, “Chuck DeVore, he’s the conservative in the race, and I’ll make you a small wager he is the Republican nominee.” Watch the video. In one of his recent columns for the Washington Post, Will explained why DeVore’s conservative message is resonating: The most conservative candidate is DeVore, 47, an aerospace executive and lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve… When addressing Tea Party audiences, DeVore asks how many of his listeners have ever been politically active before. Only about 10 percent raise their hands. Conservatives everywhere were dispirited by the Bush administration; California conservatives are doubly demoralized as the failed Schwarzenegger experiment expires. Politics is supposed to be fun, and for California conservatives, voting for DeVore would be the first fun in many a moon. Chuck DeVore recently got to sit down with Glenn Beck to discuss the dangers of the progressive movement and the need for Americans to force Washington to follow the Constitution. During the discussion, Beck said, “You intrigue me,” which was high praise from someone who dislikes politicians. Watch the video. DeVore also got a chance to speak at the conservative CPAC conference last week where he explained why it’s important to elect a conservative in California. Watch the video. The June 8 Republican primary is fast approaching and we have a lot of work to do to help elect Chuck DeVore. He’s gaining momentum but he’s up against California liberals and the Washington establishment. Please tell your family and friends in California about this proven, conservative leader and please make a contribution to his campaign today. Contribute to Chuck DeVore’s Senate Campaign If Chuck DeVore wins the primary and defeats Barbara Boxer, it will be a game-changing victory for the principles of freedom that will begin a fundamental political realignment in our country.

Chuck DeVore is clearly the conservative choice in this race and once again we see the GOP establishment refusing to let go of their business as usual approach to backing candidates, like DeDe Scozzafava, who don’t hold first principles, liberty and the constitution as the primary planks of their platform.

We applaud and join the efforts of the Senate Conservatives Fund and we encourage our readers to consider donating to Chucks campaign.

New York Governer David Paterson speaks to the press outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, February 22, 2010, following the annual meeting of state governors with President Barack Obama. REUTERS/Jason Reed

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Embattled New York Governor David Paterson has decided to withdraw from the race for governor and will not seek election this year, the Daily News reported on Friday.
Paterson was elected lieutenant governor and ascended to the top post two years ago when former Governor Eliot Spitzer resigned amid a prostitution scandal.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Vicki Allen)

The speculation started last night with this piece from the Hill.com and then came to a head when today as both Hot Air’s ALLAHPUNDIT and RedState’sErick Erickson cited a the following sun-sentinel.com piece Will Charlie Crist ditch the GOP for the U.S.Senate?

Two highly placed and independent sources, speaking strictly on background, tell me that Gov. Charlie Crist is preparing to leave the Republican Party and run as an independent in the race for the U.S. Senate.

With Crist trailing Marco Rubio by 18 points in the latest polls, the Crist campaign has been in panic mode, launching attack after attack on the conservative Rubio.

Yesterday, the attacks reached a crescendo with the Crist campaign, and/or his disgraced Republican Party of Florida thug bootlickers, leaking Rubio’s credit card expenses from his time as speaker of the Florida House.

According to published reports, the former RPOF chair, the bovine bully-boy buffoon Jim Greer, spent more in a month than Rubio did in his entire two years as state House speaker. If all the Crist campaign has on Rubio is $53.49 at Winn-Dixie in Miami for “food” and a couple of plane tickets for his wife, then it’s game, set and match, as far as the Republican primary for Senate is concerned.

Allah’s makes a great point here:

The smarter play is to follow Specter’s lead by going Democrat, kissing up to Obama in hopes that the White House will “pull a Sestak” with Meek, taking his chances with Meek in a Democratic primary if he can’t be bought off, and then hoping that rank-and-file Dems line up behind him with an “anyone but Rubio” vote in November. Even that scenario is unlikely, though. Rubio may be an ideologue but, a la The One, he’s a young, soft-spoken, charismatic ideologue, which makes it harder to goose turnout by demonizing him. In fact, Daily Kos polled a hypothetical three-way race between Crist, Meek, and Rubio back in November and found a tight 32/31/27 split — at a time when Rubio was still trailing Crist head to head by 11 points. There’s been a 30-point swing since then, which makes me think Rubio’s probably somewhere around 40 percent right now in a three-man contest. With prominent Republicans lining up behind him and many Dems bound to vote the party line, how does Crist come up with 41 percent from what’s left?

This is exactly what we all thought about Crist, He’s a middle of the road career politician that could care less about principle, liberty or conservative policy.

Let’s hope the rumors are true and Rubio goes on to whip Crist like a rented mule in the general!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Liberty First PAC
Contact: Eric Odom
Cell: 312-282-9310

E-mail: news@libertyfirstpac.com

NATIONAL TEA PARTY GROUP ENDORSES J.D. HAYWORTH AGAINST JOHN MCCAIN

Liberty First PAC calls for defeat of Senator John McCain, supports J.D. Hayworth

Chicago, IL – Liberty First PAC (http://www.libertyfirstpac.com), a national committee of tea party organizers and activists, announced its full support and endorsement of J.D. Hayworth in his campaign for U.S. Senate in Arizona today. The announcement comes as one of the first unified “tea Party” calls for support of a challenge to Senator John McCain in his bid for re-election.

The endorsement is in reaction to a poll at TaxDayTeaParty.com that questioned more than 3,500 respondents on whether or not they would support J.D. Hayworth in his campaign for Senate against John McCain. 79% of the activists polled said they would support Hayworth.

Eric Odom, Chair of Liberty First PAC and a Chicago based Tea Party Organizer, blasted John McCain saying “he’s a progressive who betrayed liberty in favor of special interest and Washington political points.”

Erika Franzi, an Asheville organizer with the Asheville Tea Party, says “John McCain’s memorable bipartisan efforts, including Campaign Finance Reform, Climate Stewardship, Amnesty, and TARP, demonstrate his lack of regard for the constitutional limitations of the federal government.” Franzi went on to say that “Senator John McCain is not a liberty candidate,” and says the Asheville Tea Party supports J.D. Hayworth’s bid for Arizona Senate.

Liberty First PAC, the umbrella for TaxDayTeaParty.com, The Patriot Caucus (http://thepatriotcaucus.com), and the American Liberty Alliance, operates as a federal PAC and has an “advisory team” of 35 tea party organizers. The PAC currently has more than 3,500 members who pledge financial support.

The PAC will send J.D. Hayworth financial contributions, and has plans for several Arizona based efforts aimed at getting out the vote for the Hayworth campaign.

* Authors note: Full disclosure I serve as a committee member of Liberty First PAC as well as New Media Director for The Patriot Caucus, a project of  Liberty First PAC

Former state House Speaker Marco Rubio continues to lengthen his lead over Governor Charlie Crist in the contest for Florida’s Republican Senate nomination.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely Republican Primary voters finds Rubio leading Crist by 18 points, 54% to 36%. Four percent (4%) prefer some other candidate, and seven percent are undecided.

Those figures reflect a five point increase in support for Rubio compared to a month ago. Support for Crist has changed little over the past month.

Charlie Crist, who gained an early endorsement from the Republican establishment (a move that angered many conservatives in the party), has continued to fall in the polls since August as the report details:

Crist, an early favorite in the race, was the choice of the party establishment but angered conservatives when he was one of the few Republicans to embrace President Obama’s $787-billion economic stimulus plan. Rubio, initially a long-shot contender, was quickly embraced by the so-called Tea Party movement, and Crist’s support has been falling ever since. He was at 53% in August but fell to 49% in October. Since then, a number of prominent national conservatives have endorsed Rubio’s candidacy.