NC-07: “Our girl” gets all up in somebody else’s business

renee_ellmers_APRenee Ellmers is the queen of plain ol’ dumb luck.

THIS video helped her sneak by an entrenched incumbent in a Democrat district in 2010.  The video was a political gift from God, but Ellmers balked at commenting on it, or using it in any way in her campaign. But the viral nature of the Internet got the video seen by just enough eyes to help her sneak past the Democrat incumbent.

Her first reelection bid came around in 2012.  The general assembly piddled around with redistricting.  The new congressional districts were set so late that it was tough for challengers to jump in.  Despite that fact, Ellmers drew three under-funded unknown challengers in the GOP primary. She lost one whole county, and performed most underwhelmingly in Moore County.

Since that 2012 win, Ellmers has remained scarce in this section of District 2.  (Perhaps she doesn’t realize that her district stretches outside the boundaries of Wake County.) She’s embraced John Boehner and Eric Cantor in a bear hug — going along with every bit of their capitulation and surrender.  She openly mocked Ted Cruz and Mark Meadows’ efforts to defund ObamaCare.  She’s thumbed her nose at, and gotten testy with, quite a few irate constituents.

The challenge in finding a quality opponent for her is that NONE of the top candidates want to go to DC and deal with the nonsense on Capitol Hill. They are either successful business people or already comfortably retired.

It’s tough to tolerate being “represented” by someone who shows clear contempt for you and the principles you hold dear.  Ellmers has drawn an interesting primary challenger this time around.  Frank Roche is tested and well-known in political circles. He hasn’t been raising much money, but has gained some ground by focusing on Ellmers’ gung-ho support of Boehner and Cantor’s amnesty push.

Roche has made a few waves in the district the last few years.  It’s like the old saying goes: “You either love him or you HATE him.”  This time around, he may find a lot of success in simply not being named Renee. 

Ellmers is foolish to take the primary against Roche, or the potential November match-up with  Clay Aiken lightly.  Yet, it appears she’s doing just that.

Renee is hanging out over in the Seventh District sticking her nose in the GOP primary for that open House seat.  David Rouzer, the former GOP state senator who lost a very winnable race against Mike McIntyre in 2012, is facing off against New Hanover county commissioner Woody White.    Ellmers is joining Eric Cantor, Patrick McHenry, and Richard Hudson in openly supporting Rouzer against White.  White is publicly suggesting that Cantor and the rest butt out of the Seventh District’s business.

I have crossed paths with White in the past.  His roots are in the party establishment on the coast.  He is a former law partner with former state senator and gubernatorial nominee Patrick Ballantine.  He got appointed to fill Ballantine’s unexpired term when Ballantine quit the Senate to run for governor.  

One thing I like about White is that he doesn’t beat around the bush or mince words.  Listen to Rouzer talk about him: 

“While David Rouzer cozies up to Rep. Eric Cantor this week and wants to go along to Washington to get along with Washington, I’ll fight Obama and liberals – and those in our own party who vote with the liberals – to protect and defend our conservative principles,” White said last week.

Rouzer responded by asking which candidate would be able to get more done for the district – “the one who pokes his finger in the eyes of leadership or the one who respectfully disagrees with the leadership from time to time but knows how to get the job done.”

Rouzer said he would have voted against the increase in the debt ceiling. “That doesn’t mean you don’t work with (leadership) … or go out and publicly say they ought to stay home,” he said. He added that House leaders decide which bills come to the floor and which committees members serve on.

Anybody interested in seeing Congress “get things done”?  (*crickets*)

Senator Jesse Helms had quite a remarkable career.  He regularly marched to the beat of his own drum and stuck it to his party’s leadership when he thought they were wrong.  Enough people back home loved it enough to keep him in DC for 30 years.

The founders of The National Review said their mission was to “stand athwart history and yell ‘Stop.’ ”   I think there are a  lot of people across The Tar Heel State — and the nation — who’d like to see their representatives in DC do some of the same.