Leave Us Alone

Lord have mercy, California's race for the GOP Senate nomination is attracting an unusual amount of "help" from conservatives outside of the state. Sarah Palin and Rick Santorum have already endorsed Carly Fiorina, never mind that (1) Chuck DeVore is a viable conservative candidate and (2) the primary is still 4 weeks away. Now, Erick Erickson from Red State is issuing commands from his perch at CNN: Chuck DeVore Receives an Ultimatum From Erick Erickson

Erick Erickson, editor-in-chief of RedState.com, backs Assemblyman Chuck DeVore in the California Republican senate primary. DeVore is locked in a battle with former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and former Rep. Tom Campbell for the right to face Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in November.

Speaking Tuesday with CNN Chief National Correspondent John King, Erickson – a CNN contributor – said he won’t support DeVore much longer if the candidate does not improve his political standing.

“Look, if Chuck DeVore hasn’t gone up in the polls within two weeks significantly, I’ll be with Carly Fiorina because Tom Campbell is that bad,” Erickson said.

OK, Adama, we'll get right on it!

I think we can all agree that we have our favorite candidates in the primaries, but in the general election, we are all Republicans. Does it really matter who endorses whom in the freakin' primary? I guess it does. I can understand Erickson's reasoning. A split in the conservative base in the CA GOP will hand the nomination to Tom Campbell, a guy who would be begin rebuilding the tax-collectors-for-the-welfare-state wing of the Senate should he manage to knock of La Box. But, Red State has been righteously pumping DeVore stock for months. Now, all of a sudden, DeVore has "two weeks" to show he can win. What is this, JV football?

DeVore's been hanging tough with - and out-debating - two better funded candidates with superior name recognition. He's still rising in the polls. The shocking upsets we've seen this year - Brown in MA, Bennett in UT - have come in the last few days before the vote. There's no reason why such a dynamic won't work in the GOP primary. But, it won't work if people drop DeVore because Fiorina is more "electable." Need I remind everyone that this is how we ended up with Governor Schwarzeneggar, rather than Governor McClintock (who we should have listened to when we had a chance)?

Erickson, for one, has taken to his blog to revise and extend his remarks, which admittedly came in a tossed off moment at the end of a segment: Chuck DeVore and Polling

What I said and what I meant is that the election is four weeks away in California. In two more weeks I’ll check again and see what the polling shows. I believe Tom Campbell would be a terrible nominee. His closeness with disreputable people who’d be happy to see us all dead is too much for me.

So if Chuck DeVore is not viable, then I’m with Carly Fiorina.

But unlike many, I think Chuck DeVore is viable and has a pulse, which is why I’m not abandoning Chuck. In fact, the only one in the race flatlining right now is Carly Fiorina.

Consider Marlin Stutzman — two weeks before his election he was at 8% in the polls. A week before the election he was at 18%. He actually got 30%. It can happen.

What I see in the California polling is Carly Fiorina sinking and Chuck DeVore rising. And what I’ve seen all along is that Chuck continues inching up and Carly continues dropping.

So here we arrive at the moment where we need some intellectual consistency: I’ve said all along conservatives cannot split their vote and see a bad candidate get elected. I’m practicing what I’m preaching in this reassessment.

Great, now just change that "two weeks" to "two days" and we'll call it a night.

This calls for a little music:

Someone, please take a hint.