The departure of Duncan Hunter

MEDIA ALERT

Congressman Duncan Hunter returns to San Diego tonight,
Saturday January 19, 2008
Media Opportunity at 8:00 PM (PST)
Broadway Pier at the end of Broadway St, San Diego

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 19, 2008

San Diego, Calif.
We started this campaign a year ago right here, in San Diego Harbor, against the backdrop of American Naval power. We launched a campaign emphasizing a strong national defense, enforceable borders and restoring the industrial base of America.
Today we end this campaign. The Nevada caucuses reflecting only 2% of the vote for me. I ran the campaign exactly the way I wanted to, and at this point not being able to gain traction in conservative states of Nevada and South Carolina, it’s time to allow our volunteers and supporters to focus on the campaigns that remain viable.
It’s time for me to gear up for 2008’s defense bill that will be put together over the coming weeks. There is work to be done in the areas of troop protection and new capabilities to be deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. And over the horizon, the emergence of Communist China as a military super power will require a new emphasis on U.S. capabilities in undersea warfare, space, and long range air-power.
The best way to maintain a new era of peace is for the U.S. to remain strong. Over the coming year I will endeavor to help craft a defense bill that meets the new security challenges.
Since our campaign began over 200,000 additional manufacturing jobs have been lost. 1.8 million jobs have left the U.S. for China. This fracturing of the U.S. industrial base is a long term threat to America. I hope that the remaining candidates will recognize it and address it. As the senior Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, I will seek to address it.
Only hours ago a border patrolman was killed in the California Desert. This tragedy emphasizes more than ever the compelling case for the completion of the border fence. Since I wrote the bill that mandates 854 miles of double border fence only a few miles have been constructed. Over the next year in Congress I will do everything in my power to get that fence built.
Finally, for Lynn and me, the campaign over the last year has shown us this: America is a wonderful country. Our people have great character and goodness, and the meeting of new friends has enriched our lives.
The failure of our campaign to gain traction is mine and mine alone. But we have driven the issues of national security, the border fence, the emergence of China and the need to reverse bad trade policy. Because of that, this campaign has been very worthwhile, and for the Hunter family, a lot of fun.
To our friends and supporters and volunteers: many thanks. And now it’s time for me to focus on developing a 2008 defense bill that serves our troops and our nation.
Thanks, and God Bless America.
Duncan Hunter

* * *

I like Duncan Hunter tremendously. I won’t get into the reasons why he was my second choice, and never my first, but I do think it’s too bad that he wasn’t able to gain more traction in various states. While he accepts responsibility for it (as he should), I can and will point out that it isn’t entirely his fault.

The press has been allowed to decide who is viable, and has dubbed front-runners far before any votes were cast. It’s also been pretty clear that the press chose badly. In the early days of the campaign, the press had declared that Rudy Giuliani was the leading Republican candidate for President. We were told that Fred Thompson’s arrival on the scene was eagerly awaited by masses.

These headlines were based on celebrity, clearly not on fact. Giuliani might come from New York City, and therefore appeal to New York City journalists, but he clearly does not appeal to a majority of Republican voters. He’s showing single-digit returns when states actually vote, despite all of the time he’s been given. Fred Thompson might be an actor with some novelty behind him, but he clearly doesn’t have the charisma of Ronald Reagan, which is how reporters were trying to cast him.

I said long ago (before I even started this blog) that I would love to see the “top tier” candidates (Giuliani, McCain, Romney) and alleged maybe-candidate (Thompson had not yet declared) leave the field, and run the primary between the ideas-based “second-tier” candidates. Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, Ron Paul, and Tom Tancredo had ideas for the country. Tancredo was a bit of a one-trick pony, but at least I knew where he stood … which makes him different from Romney. (In fairness, I think that McCain is ideas-based, as well, but that’s another story.)

In my “Working the Field” series, Duncan Hunter was next on my list of candidates to profile, and I suppose that I now feel guilty about not getting to him. I had no intention of ignoring him. (Actually, I was tired of profiling candidates I didn’t like, but didn’t want to jump all the way to Mike Huckabee, so I was going to profile Hunter as a pick-me-up.)

In debates, Rep. Hunter was consistently ignored, and the outlets soon started looking for reasons to exclude him — much as was the case with Rep. Paul. This certainly didn’t help him, especially given that many voters don’t make decisions until the last day.

Duncan Hunter was pursuing the traditional conservative coalition in a way that no other candidate in the GOP is. Whereas Mitt Romney has realigned his positions so that he can claim to be one of them, Rep. Hunter is. While Sen. Thompson is ambling around waiting for people to come to him, Rep. Hunter was pursuing them like a leader. If the conservative press had really wanted to back a traditional candidate, they probably should have gotten behind Hunter.

Anyone who saw the Values Voter Debate saw Duncan Hunter do very well in a forum with social conservatives — one that McCain, Thompson, Giuliani, and Romney couldn’t be troubled to attend.

It is my hope that this is nowhere near the end of Duncan Hunter’s aspirations for higher office. I hope to see him in a Republican Cabinet beginning in 2009, and I hope that he makes another run in 2012 or 2016.

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