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Sunday, January 23, 2011

Politics Kirby Wilbur Trounces Incumbent Luke Esser for State GOP Chair

Posted by Goldy on Sun, Jan 23, 2011 at 11:01 AM

Former conservative talk radio host Kirby Wilbur didn't just "unseat" Washington State Republican Party Chair Luke Esser at Saturday's GOP meeting in Tukwila, he trounced him by a nearly two-to-one margin, 69 to 36.

Wow. That's a spanking that suggests that Teabaggers have seized control of the local party machinery throughout much of the state in a grassroots surge reminiscent of the religious right's political apogee during the Ellen Craswell era. It is also bad news for State Attorney General Rob McKenna and his gubernatorial ambitions. Esser, McKenna's longtime political cabin boy (he worked for McKenna both on the King County Council and in the AG's office), was installed as WSRP chair in 2007, as his patron solidified control over the party apparatus. If Esser was the face of the party establishment, McKenna is the brains, so the defeat of the former is certainly a blow for the latter.

Continuing with that analogy, you might want to think of Wilbur as the heart of the WA GOP—whatever he might lack in strategy or pragmatism, he more than makes up for in passion, and I've no doubt that he will have considerably greater success than Esser in inspiring the Republican base. But unfortunately for McKenna, the Republican base is batshit crazy, and if unchained from their radiators, could prove as much of an impediment to McKenna's gubernatorial chances as a help.

Should McKenna pander to the Teabaggers and the inevitably nutty platform they'll put in place, he risks alienating himself from the centrist swing voters every Republican candidate desperately needs to win statewide in WA. But neither can he afford to disillusion the rank and file party faithful manning the all important GOTV campaign. I'd say the smart money is still on McKenna in 2012, but without Esser in place to run interference, those odds certainly just got longer.

As for Wilbur, well, I gotta admit that personally, I kinda like him. I enjoyed sparring with him on KVI, where he always treated me fairly on air. In fact, he even gave me a letter of recommendation when I first started seeking a job in radio, along with a lot of personal encouragement. That said, when it comes to the issues, Wilbur is absolutely wrong on almost everything. But then, that's not much of a change from Esser, now is it?

Still, regardless of Wilbur's ultimate performance in the job, I'm guessing most WA Dems are at least pleasantly surprised by his decisive and disruptive victory, and the unsuspected weakness in the McKenna political machine it revealed.

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Goo-goo-ga-joob. What will be their first big platform point? Forced labor for gays? Mandatory gun ownership? Jesus tattoos on everybody? Dramatic readings of the Constitution before sporting events? All taxes to be paid in farm produce? Come on, Republicans, let's party like it's 1000 BC! Who's this year's Craswell?

Posted by Fnarf

on January 23, 2011 at 11:03 AM

On a side note, as someone who only ever heard Wilbur when he was on former right wing AM station KVI (now an oldies station), I was slightly shocked to see how old he was in the photo from the Times story. Are there no young Republicans left in WA?

Posted by Brody on January 23, 2011 at 11:08 AM

I am sure there is some way Seattle can fuck with the top two primary system on this one. Let's hope the Rs have a tough primary. What was the name of the cowboy football farmer from Spokane that ran against Rossi last year?

Posted by six shooter on January 23, 2011 at 11:19 AM

@3 ha ha ha how could you forget a name like Clit Diddler?

Posted by Brody on January 23, 2011 at 11:20 AM

i heartily encourage the WA State GOP to emulate the strategy and success of Ellen Craswell.

Posted by Max Solomon on January 23, 2011 at 11:36 AM

Spanking was the appropriate term to describe Luke Esser's loss, because he was actually crying like a baby when the vote count was read and had to be consoled by Don Brady, State Executive Director. Attorney General Rob McKenna was so angry that he stormed out of the hotel.

Posted by King County Republican on January 23, 2011 at 11:47 AM

@5, or the strategery of Rossi.

It is lose-lose.

Do the R's roll out Didier part deux, yes. Do they get the same primary result? Pretty much. The "energized" base may have taken over the machine but their actual voters did not live down to the party's 12 to 14%.
This is party they have constructed, where the "Rossi" R's avoid contradicting the statements of that base during the primary, and then run to the R's that call themselves Independents.

They are firming up their position as the 45% party.
McKenna is Rossi.

For the pure entertainment value I am interested in knowing who the Craswell/Didier party boat anchor will be.

Posted by MrBaker

on January 23, 2011 at 12:08 PM

@1:

Your last sentence was precisely the same thought that popped into my head after reading this.

Posted by COMTE

on January 23, 2011 at 12:10 PM

Looks like Kirby "[shot] him in the head." Nice job. And by him, I mean mainstream Republicans, obviously.

Posted by Geraldo Riviera on January 23, 2011 at 12:13 PM

A dork is a dork is a narrow minded dork. Apologies to GS.

Posted by Nelson Bradley on January 23, 2011 at 12:52 PM

Publicola's story yesterday about Jim Brunner's scoop attracted this comment from Trevor (Griffey), who suggests we may be in for some journalistic fun:

Also, I'll almost feel sorry for Ken Wilbur once Jim Brunner does a profile of him. Brunner actually investigates the validity of politicians' claims instead of just letting them say whatever they want. His profile of Didier last year, including analysis of the way that the Didier family has benefited from federal farm subsidies and subsidized water from the BPA, was truly devastating.

http://publicola.com/2011/01/22/saturday…

Posted by gloomy gus on January 23, 2011 at 12:57 PM

Kirby was the same way in YAF, in my bad old days. It amazes me when someone thinks the same as +30 years ago. Must have lived in a closed box, eaten unflavored jello and drank distilled water.

Posted by not_teabagging on January 23, 2011 at 1:00 PM

as a participant in king county republican politics, i can only attest that kw is a workhorse who can not only carry a party, but a whole state. congratulations.

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe

on January 23, 2011 at 1:08 PM

oh, and we should have done to the bears what gb is doing now!

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe

on January 23, 2011 at 1:09 PM

@11, it doesn't get better in Snohomish County (Koster refused to debate because Jerry Cornfield reported facts about Koster, those pesky facts).

Posted by MrBaker

on January 23, 2011 at 1:39 PM

I would love to see the republicans field another 2012 version of Ellen Craswell. Scary to contemplate, but easy to beat.

The key to any victory is swing and independent voters. McKenna can be very competitive for those voters. The Ellen Craswells of the republican party do nothing but scare the independent voters over to the democrats.

So... go Kriby!

Posted by Reverse Polarity on January 23, 2011 at 2:43 PM

17 Comment Pulled (Spam) Comment Policy

Referring to people you dont agree with by using crude sexual terms isn't very civil, is it? Within 30 minutes of the shooting you guys were politicizing it, and then at the Obama pep rally, er, I mean Memorial after the shooting, they handed out shirts that had a message approved by the president that towed the party line, which is so civil, it's what the brownshirts and blackshirts did. You guys have been so civil since the shooting - I'm shocked that you're still saying teabagger - which is about as funny and original at this point as a Sarah Palin joke.

Posted by Basehead on January 23, 2011 at 4:20 PM

Basehead, you're spot-on in calling BS on the insulting tone. However... remember one thing, that the Teabaggers originally called themselves... teabaggers.

Proof: The Famous Old Lady Teabagger and her sign:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_913i6e5Kxmk/S8…

Posted by Dr_Awesome on January 23, 2011 at 5:09 PM

Bailo @13: Your avatar is perfect. 24-3 at halftime.

Posted by DOUG.

on January 23, 2011 at 5:34 PM

@1 Hilarious.

The GOP has ceded moderation to the Dems, so the only way McKenna gets elected is by switching parties.

Posted by seandr on January 23, 2011 at 6:32 PM

Nice to see the R's whack themselves in the head, but remember that ballot lines don't belong to political parties in WA any more, and that organized parties and official campaigns are on the road to becoming the most restricted entities when it comes to raising, reporting, and spending campaign $$$.

Posted by RonK, Seattle on January 23, 2011 at 8:22 PM

Esser and Wilbur are essentially indistinguishable on the issues, and the criticism of Esser is 100% correct (that WA Republicans significantly underperformed compared to just about every other state.) Kirby is a better organizer and a hell of a nice guy. The celebration here will be short-lived.

Posted by Reader1 on January 23, 2011 at 9:32 PM

@ 18 & 19, civil doesn't mean never telling another joke. Civil means toning down the violent rhetoric. When I tell a joke at Ellen Craswell's expense, nobody ends up dead.

Posted by Reverse Polarity on January 23, 2011 at 11:39 PM

@18: its TOED the line. imagine a line, and you make sure your TOE doesn't cross it, like in football. hence the phrase. you cannot TOW a line.

yes, grammar trolling is dickish.

Posted by Max Solomon on January 24, 2011 at 7:07 AM

@25 There's a Transformer named Tow-Line.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tow-Line

Maybe Basehead is just caught up in 80s era bad cartoons. Or maybe he's just a huge Meghan Fox fan.

Did Basehead get to the part of the Internet that disproved the "approved by Obama" meme?

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/01/13/no…

Did the Nazis hand out free t-shirts? No wonder they were so popular. I also heard they were fans of eating dinner every night at home with their mothers around the dinner table. Fucking Nazis ruin everything.

Posted by six shooter on January 24, 2011 at 9:43 AM