Great post over at OMT:
Messages matter. But as we have all seen since the Contract with America, even the most powerful message is useless unless those who preach it remain fully committed to it’s content…in both word and substance. The congressional GOP has long-since abandoned the words and substance of the 1994 Contract. And it is entirely possible that the Pennsylvania candidates who adopted the “Promise” will backslide as well, given enough time.
But what about Virginia? Would such a thing work here? I initially believed the Freedom & Prosperity Agenda would be such a campaign platform, but I was wrong. It became instead a legislative scorecard, and that, to my thinking, made it less useful. I hope this will change before the 2007 races, because the Virginia GOP needs a unified set of objectives.
Now I tried something like this during my 2005 run, but my “Five Pledges” weren’t picked up by my fellow VCAP challengers:
(1) Repeal The 2005 Tax Hike
(2) Comprehensive School Choice Legislation
(3) Pass the Taxpayer Bill of Rights
(4) Implement the Wilder Commission Cost-Saving Reforms
(5) Support the “Life at Conception” Bill
The FPA has promise, but folks need to be willing to sign on and sign on early, before it gets co-opted by liberals and moderates in the Republican Party.