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MACR drops the ball
By punch bowl | November 12, 2007
In light of last week’s posts highlighting CR election efforts around the country, different sources have reported a lack of effort in a special election last month.
The Massachusetts 5th District had been represented by Democrat Marty Meehan for more than 14 years. Looking at the last three elections, Meehan won with 60% of the vote in 2002, with 66% of the vote in 2004 and was unopposed in 2006. When he retired, the seat was supposed to remain in the Democratic column.
Republican Jim Ogonowski nearly pulled off the upset, losing by a narrow 51-45 margin.
According to CR Nation moles, the Massachusetts College Republicans (MACR) were AWOL the weekend before the election. Instead of volunteering, MACR was holding its fall convention, proudly proclaiming that 100 people attended.
The large turnout at convention came at the expense of a fine Republican candidate who was within striking distance.
College Republicans might not have made up all six points, but a strong volunteer turnout the weekend before the election might have turned out a stronger vote on Election Day.
Brian Gwozdz and the rest of the MACR leadership have some explaining to do. It’s all fine and nice to have fun get-togethers, but when a Republican candidate is in need, College Republicans need to be there.
Topics: CR gossip, 2007 Elections |
November 12th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
Gwozdz personally betrayed Mike Miltenberger in the runup to the CRNC Convention. They deserve better leadership.
November 12th, 2007 at 10:50 pm
Miltenberger’s two year term left the organization in disarray. As a College Republican from Massachusetts, I have to give credit to the current leadership. Since April, they have raised more money and created one of the most responsive executive boards I have ever seen in MA.
Thomas, look at the facts before you make petty statements.
FYI- From what I have heard, they had several state conference calls to recruit College Republicans for the election. I think they even got Chris Shays from CT on a call before the GOTV to help recruit for volunteers. Anyways, there was a decent phonebank after the convention. I personally contacted over 500 households. I think we reached about 9,000 total that night.
November 12th, 2007 at 10:55 pm
It wouldn’t have made a difference. MACR did all it could to rally the troops, and the convention was supposed to double as a meeting point for the GOTV 72 hours. Did the source fail to mention that?
No, it wasn’t macr leadership that was at fault, it was just lazy rank-and-file college republicans.
November 13th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
The fact that a Republican even got the votes Jim did in Massachusetts says a lot. You can’t go blaming CR’s. I know they tried.
November 14th, 2007 at 1:13 am
This sounds a lot like sour grapes over what happened with Miltenberger over the summer. Even the best leadership cannot always make up for a disinterested rank and file, especially given that this was not a general election, but a special one.
November 14th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
the fact is, special election or not, hosting the convention in which 100 boasted CR’s were present undermines the GOTV efforts. The leadership is not to held accountable for disinterested members but it should and will be held accountable for deterring involvement by hosting the convention during 72 hour. How are people justifying this? We are the grassroots arm of the GOP but instead 100 MA CR’s are gathered indoors for a convention. All aside, Brian Gwodz did an injustice to his state party.
November 14th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
…the convention was PART of the 72-hour GOTV for the campaign - the whole reason they did it then was to make phone calls for the election and to get volunteers out to help on the race. You people are clearly not from Massachusetts and dont know what you’re talking about. Kids from MY SCHOOL were in the district that weekend.
November 15th, 2007 at 6:04 am
This is an unfair and unsubstantiated ad hominem attack. The Mass. CRs did crucial work for Jim and his team in the weeks leading up to Election Day, including on Election Day itself. Brian and his leadership team are doing a great job for the MACR. To compare him to the disaster that was Mike Miltenberger is categorically unfair.
November 15th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
This is the United States of America. If the Republican Party is to lead, we cannot settle for back stabbers in our own ranks.
November 15th, 2007 at 9:35 pm
how much did miltenberger pay you to post this?
November 16th, 2007 at 9:22 am
this is such a pathetic post. perhaps your “moles” need a little refresher course on how to properly report what occurs at events. MACR was NOT absent on the Ogonowski campaign trail- since May, MACR had encouraged its members to take part in the campaign and organized countless trips to the district to help out in any way possible. as a previous poster mentioned, there were state-wide conference calls and dozens of emails stressing the importance of the election and imploring people to get involved. the MACR executive board members are not magicians, but they worked effortlessly to inform people and get them involved.
additionally, it would be nice if people actually started recognizing that all Miltenberger did was flash his pretty little face around and make people feel totally inferior with his Burberry ties, floaty hair and pompous attitude. Miltenberger was like the iceberg that sank the MACR, and Chairman Gwozdz and his team are working tirelessly to salvage the wreck that is post-Milty CRs.
next time you want to try to be all snazzy with your wannabe scoops, you may want to try to have moles who are from the state in question and have half a brain to understand what is actually occuring.
November 16th, 2007 at 9:48 am
Just some comments on the comments, and please excuse me if I exhibit a lack of understanding of some of the CR things going on here - Punch Bowl does most of the CR internal politics…
Anyway, what strikes me is the fact that everyone assumes (based off of the prevailing CR doctrine and previous CR blogs) that we 1) know Mike Miltenberger and 2) are protecting him.
I don’t know Mike Miltenberger and have never met him. And neither does anyone else who writes for CR Nation. Believe what you want, but I wouldn’t protect someone I didn’t know. The more likely explanation is that Punch Bowl thinks MACR did a poor job and there seems to be a legitimate argument that can be made on both sides of that issue.
What also strikes me is that the individuals commented above because we allegedly “attacked MACR” and implore us for doing so, but then go on to attack Mr. Miltenberger in much the same way that we “attacked MACR”
Sometimes, I simply do not understand the defensive postures of College Republicans. A much better defensive posture would be not have one - meaning do a good (or better) job and you won’t need to go on defense.
November 16th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Theres a stark difference between baseless attacks against MACR and legitimate, factual statements about Miltenberger. Unlike your blogger (I believe I can correctly assume Punch Bowl is not a Massachusetts resident/college student), I lived through 2 years of Miltypalooza and recognize the complete change that Gwozdz + Co. has successfully made to the organization.
Honestly, Im all for criticism, as I beieve the ability to recognize negatives in an organization is crucial. The point still stands, however, that this argument against MACR would be significantly stronger had Punch Bowl contacted legitimate “moles” to provide factual information about the actions of Chairman Gwozdz and the rest of MACR, specifically at the fall convention. Instead, it not only unjustly discredits the work of the MACR executive board, but strikes down an already battered group of dedicated college Republicans in the King of Blue States.