Our friend Andrew Hemingway has been getting a lot of press the last couple of days; this in the UL:
While Kimball disputes the characterization of his win as a Tea Party win, the fact is, his victory has fired up liberty activists.
New Hampshire Republican Liberty Caucus Chairman Andrew Hemingway said his group used social networking sites on Monday and Tuesday to launch a "money bomb" in support of the New Hampshire GOP.
and of course, we did our part as well.
Hemingway said it is the first time his caucus raised money for the state committee. Since one of the raps against Kimball was that he would have trouble fund-raising, "We’ve begun really pushing and said, ‘Let’s show that we’re supporting the party and that we have a new confidence in the Republican Party,’" he said.
A few years ago, Doug was prescient in stating that the power would be shifting from the Parties to outside groups; it certainly happened faster with the Dems than it did with the Repubs here in NH, but certainly the RLCNH was one of those groups that had a major impact this election cycle.
"I’ve received a lot of e-mails back from people who say they’ve just donated $100 or $50 or $20 to the party, and they’re saying, ‘It’s the first time I’ve ever donated to the Republican Party,’" Hemingway said.
While I have supported individual Republican candidates in the past, I can echo that statement. It is, as the title, suggest, money / mouth. I too, for the first time, sent a donation into the Party. Will that continue (versus sending money, time and talent directly to specific candidates)? Dunno just yet – cautious optimism thus far but a "trust but verify" stance has been taken.
I did interview Jack at the Merrimack County Republican Committee this past Monday – he roughly said at least $1,000 came in via small amounts but believed that the total was much higher. He just didn’t know as the number of incoming donations absolutely was surprising to them – they had no idea what was churning this up. I just called the NH GOP office and hopefully will have a number as to the size of the "we got your back, Jack" effort was.
Note to the "Old Guard" – It’s my understanding that Gov. Sununu was on the phone for rounding up about $30K; if he can do it, so can you.
