Bauer Notes Obama's Coattails 'Were Cut Off,' Voters Return to the Right

/PRNewswire/ -- Former presidential candidate Gary Bauer on Wednesday said that it was clear that the pundits were wrong, rather than President Obama changing the nature of the electorate, "it's a center-right country, and Obama's coattails were cut off last night as his coalitions stayed home." The chairman of the Campaign for Working Families offered the following analysis of the evening's events:

NEW JERSEY LEADS THE WAY:

"New Jersey is a ground breaking story this morning as a hard-core blue state for the Democratic Party where they have institutional power and media support failed to deliver. And despite many campaign stops, Obama could not transfer his 15 point win from 2008 to his ticket's standard bearer barely a year later. The biggest shock at the White House today has to be the loss of independent voters in both New Jersey and Virginia.

"It's clear that voters, especially independent voters, do not like the change they have experienced since Obama's election ... changes like higher unemployment, strangled credit, and massive proposed tax increases on everything from health insurance to fuel and food. These results show that the voters are rejecting runaway deficit spending, higher taxes and bigger government. If the White House and Congressional liberals are listening, they will pull Obamacare off the agenda and stop the march to socialized medicine."

HOFFMAN'S CAMPAIGN SENDS A MESSAGE:

"The small showing of the independent in the New Jersey race reveals why Hoffman's near win is so significant. The Democratic National Committee even ran ads for New Jersey Independent Chris Daggett to draw away from Republican Chris Christie, but he made a feeble, single-digit showing. But in New York's 23rd, a district that went to Obama, Hoffman ran a simple campaign with a single message, 'I will not be a vote for Nancy Pelosi.' With the Republican establishment against him, with the media against him, with the Democratic establishment against him, Hoffman pulled in 46 percent of the vote on a confusing ballot on which he was not listed at the GOP's candidate. If Hoffman's performance is combined with the numbers of failed Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava, who was listed as the GOP's candidate, he would have carried the day.

"That simple Reaganite message that higher taxes and government take-over of industry must stop was powerful enough to create real drama all night. And in fact, when the Democratic Party winner Bill Owen gave his own victory speech, he was careful to reach out to the Republicans in his district ... something Obama might try.

"As one of the first conservative leaders to endorse Hoffman, I was moved to act by the fact that the long-term Republican was standing on the core Reaganesque principles - smaller government, lower taxes, a strong national defense, and support for life. And while some may mock these American ideals, they remain bedrock issues for most Americans. The fact that a district which went so solidly for Obama came so close to electing an unknown third party candidate shows the power of those ideas. "

A REPUDIATION OF SOCIAL ISSUES?:

"Some pundits today insinuate that Hoffman's loss was a repudiation of social issues. Nothing could be further from the truth. In Maine, where the governor and both chambers of their legislature tried to lead in the nation in radically redefining marriage, once again - for the 31st time - voters said no to gay marriage. Values issues have a place in the national discussion."

THE PICTURE BECOMES CLEAR:

"Obama came to office as the political equivalent of a Rorschach test. People could read into his message of 'change' anything they wished. But the picture is becoming clearer by the day. He embraces a socialist agenda through government-run businesses, from the auto industry to health care. He proposes a nanny state where taxes are used to punish politically incorrect behavior like drinking soda or turning on the heat in winter. He supports schemes for redistribution of hard earned money to those who did not earn it, through higher and higher taxes, and more and more give away programs. He expands government power through unelected 'czars' who use government power as a weapon against those they do not agree with, rather than building a consensus on how to go forward.

"But while it's clear that hard-core liberals are rallying to Obama's side and that he is uniting the Republican Party in new and energizing ways, the big news in the numbers is Obama's loss of support among independents. Independents are abandoning the Democrats and have been very sophisticated in cutting through the political noise. Calling a liberal a 'moderate' does not change political reality. Democrats have assumed that independents want more government and support higher taxes and ballooning deficits. But they are wrong.

"They are also wrong to claim that conservatives like me do not want the GOP to be a big tent or that the party is engaged in some kind of civil war. Nothing could be further from the truth. All people, regardless of race, creed or color, are welcome to join together in support of timeless, American values. The GOP is a party of principles and ideas, and a healthy party talks about how best to implement those ideas. The GOP desires to free Americans from the weight of government taxes and regulations so that they can build a better life for themselves and their families. Ideas such as smaller government, strong national defense, and respect for all people at all stages of life are the bedrock of a winning party. Tuesday those values won and with them so did the GOP."

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