nobody cares? maybe if i post the juicy excerpts, then folks will care! here goes:
Trumpās decision to pull his support from Brooks ā which came in late March as Brooksā campaign floundered ā wasnāt the death blow that many anticipated.
āIāve not seen that move the needle,ā said Terry Lathan, a longtime conservative activist in the state, who served as chair of the Alabama Republican Party until last year. āIf it did, how is it possible Mo Brooks has picked up 10 to 15 points in polls?
āWhat people are saying ā and I agree with them ā is you can like Donald Trump on a ballot and his policies, but you can also like Mo Brooks and his voting record.ā
Lathan, who volunteered as co-chair of Brooksā campaign after remaining neutral in the stateās last two open-seat Senate elections, said Brooks has the āgold standard voting record for the Republican Party, in every category.ā
Brooks was endorsed by the National Rifle Association, a move that came after Trump pulled his support. Brooks also has a 100 percent rating from NumbersUSA, a leading anti-immigration group, and an A+ from the anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony List. On Friday, Alabama Citizens for Life endorsed Brooks.
Ted Cruz and Rand Paul will both stump for Brooks on Monday in a last-minute effort. Cruz will attend a daytime rally in Huntsville, and Paul will take part in an evening tele-town hall with Republican voters.
Despite being the only candidate in the Senate primary who worked to keep Trump in office following his 2020 loss, Trump justified pulling his endorsement of Brooks in March by saying the congressman had gone āwokeā by suggesting it was time for Republicans to look ahead to the 2022 and 2024 elections.
āHe is back from the dead,ā said Steve Bannon. āItās a great comeback heās had, but a big part of that is Durantās collapse.ā
Bannon, who recently had Britt on his show, said he still thinks the race is Brittās to lose if Trump endorses her ahead of a June 21 runoff. But Brooks, āa Jeff Sessions agrarian populistā with a long history in Alabama, still has a shot if Trump were to sit it out, Bannon told POLITICO.
Lathan, the former state party chair, had her own theory of the case for why Brooks could surprise. She pointed to Trumpās record of unsuccessfully endorsing in Alabama Senate races in 2017, when Strange, the former presidentās endorsed candidate, lost a primary to Roy Moore. Trump then backed Moore in the general election, but Moore lost to Dem Doug Jones.
āHeās done that before in our state, and fell short as well,ā Lathan said of Trumpās involvement in Senate elections. āWhy would you want to stop one of the most conservative votes in the U.S. Congress? Weāre one of the reddest states in the nation.ā
www.politico.com
