Every few years, like clockwork, conservative pundit George Will falls in love with one or more Black or Hispanic Republicans running for State wide office. He then writes a column or two predicting success for these candidates and explains the cosmic significance of these campaigns to the rest of us.
This week, Will touts a Cuban former Florida Assemblyman, who he predicts will defeat Florida’s immensely popular Governor in next year’s Republican Primary for US Senate.
Here’s some of Will prose:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/25/AR2009092502470.html
A Catholic and father of four, Rubio, whose parents fled Cuba in 1959, says, "It is hard to be apolitical when you are raised by exiles." He worries that his children's generation "will be the first to inherit a diminished country." His preventive medicine includes limited government, tax reform, spending restraint and removal of all impediments to the entrepreneurship that makes America a place "where poor people can put billionaires out of business."
… In January 2011, one Floridian will leave for the U.S. Senate. He is unlikely to be a former governor at odds with his party's nominating electorate, or the probable Democratic nominee, Kendrick Meek, a hyper-liberal congressman. Rubio intends to prove that "in the most important swing state, you can run successfully as a principled conservative." He probably will.
In his column, Will ignores EVERY poll that shows Governor Crist beating former Assemblyman Rubio by 2 to 1.
And, like a stopped clock, he might even be correct this time since there is almost an entire year until the Primary.
But Will’s track record isn’t exactly reassuring.
My searches on the web weren’t able to find every column he wrote about all the conservative great Brown or Black hopes but here are the 2004 and 2006 future stars:
In 2004, Will decided that the Hispanic Mayor of Huntington Park, California would not only be elected to the US Senate but that her Primary victory would make California competitive for President Bush
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/will030104.asp
Reverberations might help President Bush become competitive for the state's 55 electoral votes, forcing his opponent to at least spend significant time and money here.
Republican voters, half of whom a recent poll showed to be undecided, create the year's most mesmerizing Senate race by nominating Rosario Marin. She is the 45-year-old former U.S. treasurer and mayor of Huntington Park, a 95 percent Latino town of 60,000 in southeast Los Angeles County, where Democrats have a 5-to-1 registration advantage.
Today, when biography serves as political philosophy, Marin's suits this nation within the nation. At 14 she emigrated from Mexico with her parents, a janitor and a seamstress, speaking no English. She graduated near the top of her high school class, worked her way through college and took her effervescence to Sacramento, where she worked for seven years for Gov. Pete Wilson.
In case you missed the news, Ms. Marn was not succesful. She lost the Republican Party by a 2-1 margin, getting 20% of the vote. And California was not competitive for George Bush. Oh, and Ms. Marin was forced to resign her patronage job this year in disgrace for ethical violations.
http://latinopoliticsblog.com/2009/03/05/lets-revisit-rosario-marin-for-a-moment/
Then in 2006, Will thought he had 4 Black Republicans poised to achieve historic, game changing victories.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/17/AR2006021701846.html
Maryland borders Pennsylvania, which borders Ohio, which borders Michigan. In that swath of America, extending 950 miles from the shores of the Chesapeake Bay to the shores of Lake Superior, this year's politics could produce a remarkable quartet of Republican victories — black U.S. senators from Maryland (Michael Steele, who now is lieutenant governor) and Michigan (Keith Butler, former Detroit city councilman and currently pastor of a suburban church with a congregation of 21,000), and black governors in Pennsylvania (Lynn Swann, the former Pittsburgh Steeler) and Ohio (Ken Blackwell, currently secretary of state).
Unlike 2004, three of the 4 were able to win their Republican Primaries. But, just as with the others, none claim close to victory.
I don't think I'm going out on a limb here, so look for a future column by George about Michael Williams, who is running for US Senate in Texas.
http://www.williamsfortexas.com/