The Mitchell Report

An Observation on the '06 Primaries and Stokes Politics in General

I'm puzzled by the inconsistenciess of Stokes GOP primary voters from year to year. Since '96 it's been quite the roller coaster between the so-called conservatives and RINOS. Yet I'm not sure if either title is accurate. First, the Stokes GOP is rather ideologically diverse with some having no ideology at all. I do believe power was a motive not mentioned in earlier assessments. Clearly in a one party county like Stokes, any ambitious, power-thirsty GOP office seeker must sell a message they think is ripe for the picking. Obviously, the tea leaves were quite readable and indicated plenty of dissatisfaction over the Turpins and therefore this election was a referendum on the Turpins and the county's image. I like the Turpins. They are accessible, open and were frequent guests of the Collinstown community. Unfortunately, they were not public relations experts and clearly did not have enough personal contacts to secure the votes necessary for victory. I believe that most voters who had the chance to casually converse with them probably supported them. In addition, there are not as many no-tax conservatives out there. Yet perhaps the voters are setting a new trend in the post Buster-Willis era in which they loathe entrenched GOP politicians and simply use the primaries as term limiting events. Moreover, in 2 years, after taxes are raised, adjusted, or whatever language is used, the conservatives will again put forth a rather ideologically pure candidate in the mold of Brenneis, McHugh, or Turpin. Those candidates might win, and then be term limited.

Robert W. Mitchell, Jr.