Our friend John Hawkins over at RightWingNews is very fond of polls and lists – pretty much I read everyone that he puts out either on RWN or in his Townhall columns. This one, The Right Wing News Bloggers’ Choice Conservative Of The Year For 2010, is an aggregate of 66 of the blogs that responded to him:
The bloggers were all provided with a pre-selected list of 20 candidates that I chose. Out of that list, they were allowed to choose up to 3 names. All 20 candidates will be listed, the top 7 will get an extremely brief profile, and the top vote getter is the Right Wing News 2010 Conservative of the Year. Enjoy!
Close, but no cigar:
Honorable Mentions (Alphabetical order):
* Dick Armey/Matt Kibbe (Freedomworks)
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* Haley Barbour (Governor of Mississippi. Chairman of the Republican Governors Association)
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* David Bossie (Citizens United President. Citizens United v Federal Election Commission)
* Jan Brewer (Governor of Arizona)
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* Erick Erickson (Redstate, CNN)
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* Bobby Jindal (Governor of Louisiana)
* Tim Phillips/Phil Kerpen (Americans for Prosperity)
The "Almost There"’s:
The Runners-Up
5) Allen West (11 votes): West is a newly elected Congressman from Florida. He stands out, not only because he and Tim Scott are the first two black Republicans in the House since J.C. Watts left Congress in 2003, but because he’s a fiery, outspoken Tea Party favorite who has no qualms about standing up for conservatism or speaking out against radical Islam.
5) Jim DeMint (11 votes): This South Carolina Republican is widely viewed as the prototype of what a conservative Republican should be like in the Senate. Not only was he a ferocious defender of conservative values in D.C., he was an impact player both in the primaries and the 2010 general elections.
The actual contenders for the title:
The Big Three
3) Marco Rubio (23 votes): When Marco Rubio, a young, exciting, conservative, charismatic, Hispanic Republican tossed his hat in the ring for a Senate seat in Florida, the grassroots instantly warmed to his candidacy. However, when Charlie Crist got into the race, the establishment Republicans immediately rallied behind him. That didn’t sit too well with conservatives all across the country who immediately rallied to Rubio’s candidacy. In the end, Rubio’s star power was too much for Crist, who abandoned the GOP and ran as an independent. Happily, Rubio smashed both Crist and Kendrick Meek in the general election and a new conservative star was born…
What, you think I’d give it away? This is what he says this about #1:
Simple: He’s a charismatic, bold, and pugnacious fiscal conservative who has absolutely no qualms about taking on Democrats, the unions, the media, and anybody else who tries to separate ..
of course, GRTWT (Go Read The Whole Thing)
My answers after the jump:
Glen Beck
Like him or not, he has made quite the mark over the last year. One of the things that had me list him was his adapting the style of the tv show Connections to that of American history and politics. Heck, I would have picked him just for the ability to do ‘connect the dots’. Sure, I agree that he can be over the top – but he has realized that he has to be entertaining as well as delivering the information. And given the size of the audience he has at 5pm, and the influence that he has made among those that otherwise would have been apolitical, it was a no brainer to list him as one of my choices.
Jim DeMint
Senator TEA Party is right up my alley – back to basics law making is what has driven him forward to be one of the most influential Senators on the hill – much to the dismay, at times, to the Establishment Republicans and entrenched interests. One has to admit (again, love him or hate him), his influence extends from the Senate floor to the electorate that is demanding changes on what Government does and how it does it. He’s proven himself to have quite a good eye for picking like minded candidates, back to basic Constitutional types, and getting them elected as well.
Erick Erickson
He has guided RedState to the premier level of political blogs and has done so in a "stone cold" posts and manners that show that he’s not afraid of the repercussions those posts no of offending the Political Establishment on both sides of the aisles and has shown, like Beck and Demint, that he can marshall the voices, money, and ire of the conservatives nationwide.
