Yesterday Brooks Wicker, one of the many Republicans trying to run against John Yarmuth/be a teabagger, sent out the following email:
Today I issue congratulations to Kristi Risk, a mother, concerned citizen and Tea Party activist in Indiana’s Eighth Congressional District, who bested a field of better-funded, hand-picked candidates (emphasis Wicker’s) to win Tuesday’s GOP primary in his district.
Risk, who raised around $26,000, defeated the GOP’s preferred candidate, who had raised over $250,000.
This just proves that when voters are animated and passionate, and when the candidate and message fit the district’s need, the old trappings of insider support and money don’t matter.
As a candidate similarly facing insider-funded and -supported opponents, I applaud Mrs. Risk and wish her well in her general election campaign.
Brooks Wicker
May 5, 2010
The only trouble with all that? Risk didn’t win. Dr. Larry Bucshon won.
Pretty darn embarrassing that a CPA running for the United States Congress would send out an email like that and get the winner of the race so wrong.
I don’t even know what to say. It’s so embarrassing.
8 responses so far ↓
1 Brooks Wicker // May 6, 2010 at 12:55 pm
This is Brooks Wicker.
We regret that we jumped to conclusions based on an erroneous (and clearly too early) account of the results from Indiana’s 8th District. That does not excuse the error. And yes, it is indeed an unfortunate error.
It doesn’t, however, diminish the impressive showing Mrs. Risk put up despite tough odds.
We always seek to be accurate in our campaign, and we certainly own up to it when we are not.
We regret the incident, have dealt with the miscommunication internally and hope that folks will see it as an error of exuberance.
Thank you for your time.
Brooks Wicker
2 PMudd3 // May 6, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Although the story is a bit humorous, I will be the first to tell you that I am a Republican, and I am supporting Brooks Wicker. However, as of two weeks ago I had not decided who I was going to support…truth be told I actually had no idea what each man stood for (the Courier has ignored this race.)
Mr. Wicker won my vote when he showed up at my house and knocked on the front door to introduce himself. We spoke for a bit, I will admit that I was very impressed. Even more impressive to me was after I spoke with some of my friends and coworkers from around the neighborhood… I discovered that he had visited over 600 houses in JUST my neighborhood! Turns out the man has been visiting neighborhoods throughout Louisville for the past two weeks knocking on doors to introduce himself. Truly admirable.
I can’t speak for everyone, but as a Republican, this is my perfect candidate. He isn’t sitting behind a desk spending 100,000 dollars of his own money to buy the nomination like Jeff Reetz is attempting to do. Nor is he just keeping silent because he doesn’t understand the issues like Todd Lally. He is doing exactly what a candidate should do, and that is take your campaign to the people.
Like I said, this is a funny story, but simply a mistake by Mr. Wicker that is ultimately irrelevant in this election. He was simply offering some praise to a candidate who he thought had won the election (which was in Indiana)… Who cares? Truth be told I’m impressed that he took the time to write the letter in the first place, even if his facts were wrong.
Keep up the good work Mr. Wicker, you understand what it means to be a Republican candidate…and I personally can’t wait to see you in Washington!
J.P.M.
3 Roger // May 6, 2010 at 1:56 pm
I was wondering who that Wicker guy was. Someone placed an enormous Wicker campaign sign on the foreclosed property next door to me, and I was struck by the fact there was no party affiliation, or website address on it. It all seemed remarkably amateurish.
4 Steve Magruder // May 6, 2010 at 3:08 pm
Republican is a failed brand these days.
You could even see that in Todd Young’s campaign in Indiana’s 9th Congressional District, where he calls himself a “Conservative”. However, methinks that brand is sagging as well, although maybe not quite as much as “Republican”.
5 PMudd3 // May 6, 2010 at 3:17 pm
Roger,
I actually noticed that none of the Congressional signs (or Senate signs for that matter) have any party affiliation on them… And that of the Congressional candidates, only Larry Hausman’s (the man vying for the Tea Party endorsement, and being ignored, it seems) mentions his website. Good catch though… I’m guessing it’s due to none of them having ran for office before. Which in my opinion is a good thing! Ha!
6 Chuck // May 6, 2010 at 10:39 pm
Lally has run before in the Highlands and Crescent Hill for the state legislature. His signs are easy to read and bold. I guess he didn’t put a website on it because he figures you must be a freaking moron to not be able to use a search engine on the i-net.
7 Roger // May 7, 2010 at 10:12 am
Chuck, haven’t you heard – a lot of freaking morons vote.
8 Elizabeth // May 11, 2010 at 4:51 pm
GO BROOKS!! WICKER FOR CONGRESS!
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