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The Spectacle Blog
Peter Schiff deserves his ardent national following and, all things considered, had a respectable showing in his race for the Republican senatorial nomination in Connecticut. But I think Ron Paul Republicans erred by making him their number two priority after Rand Paul.
Schiff was always a long shot to win the Republican primary. Once Chris Dodd decided not to seek reelection, the Republican nominee became a long shot to win the general election. By contrast, John Hostettler was in a winnable race in Indiana. What little polling was done of the Republican primary voters suggested he was competitive with frontrunner Dan Coats in a more fluid contest. All the public polling showed Hostettler beating the eventual Democratic nominee, with the early surveys showing him running better than Coats. In any event the winner of the GOP primary had to be considered a strong favorite in November.
Imagine if, say, half the resources that went into Schiff’s campaign had gone into Hostettler’s. Hostettler’s biggest problem was his poor fundraising. Had he raised a credible amount of money, the Beltway right would never have gone all in for Marlin Stutzman. So a split in the conservative vote would have been avoided. If Hostettler could have gotten his hard-hitting ad about Coats on television, it could have blown the race open.
Hostettler isn’t as pure on some issues of libertarian doctrine as Schiff nor was he as big a name in Ron Paul circles. But he had one of the best records as a constitutional conservative and he did get Paul’s endorsement in the primary. With the resources allocated as they were, both Hostettler and Schiff finished third with about 23 percent of the vote. Had the money been spent differently, it is possible that Rand Paul would have some company.
View all comments (19) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by W. James Antle, III
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Whitney| 8.11.10 @ 1:23PM
As a Ron Paul Republican, I've met peter schiff and he is an arrogant womanizing sleazeball. I would never vote for him nor give him money.
Davies| 8.12.10 @ 4:05AM
You couldn't be more wrong. Arrogant? So people who are experts on a subject and/or give their opinions on subjects are arrogant? Womanizing? I don't have a clue what your basing that assessment on and I am sure you don't either
Grzmlyk| 8.11.10 @ 2:11PM
Well, that's unfortunate.
I always thought his race was quixotic, and he seemed to think that, were he to be elected, he could single-handedly turn the senate around.
I don't think he quite grasps the way the game is played inside the beltway.
However, the guy is right about the economy; he makes fools of many would-be opponents on a regular basis.
Bob Miller| 8.11.10 @ 2:15PM
This article only extends the Antle/Paul fantasy that Dan Coats is not a conservative. They confuse libertarian with conservative.
Bill C| 8.11.10 @ 2:31PM
Apparently RedState and Jim DeMint shared the same "fantasy". They put up a third candidate, Marlin Stutzman, when they should have just backed the proven Hostettler. The very young Stutzman could have replaced Lugar and--as foreign policy is concerned-- it would have been a good deal as Lugar is bad on domestic policy and is still as "objectionable" as Hostettler was to some conservatives on foreign policy.
William R| 8.11.10 @ 2:19PM
If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism.-----Ronald Reagan
Darryl Schmitz| 8.11.10 @ 4:29PM
Ronald Reagan well understood the left-right-authoritarian-libertarian four quadrant political spectrum. Sadly, most people still believe that all politics is either rightist (using the euphemism "conservative") or leftist (using the euphemism "liberal" or something in between (using the term "moderate"), completely ignoring the libertarian spectrum within which our Constitution's principles reside and the authoritarian spectrum in which statist regimes reside. While president he - as both Republican and Democrat presidents have done for the better part of a century now - sacrificed constitutional principle for political expediency. They and their counterparts in Congress have discovered that they can get away with damn near anything they want to do... and the American people will debate it in subjective terms of whether it's the "best thing to do", not whether the Constitution allows it. Hopefully, the American people are finally beginning to realize this.
Bill C| 8.11.10 @ 2:23PM
Peter Schiff also gained a huge following due to this "Peter Schiff was Right" viral video. Combine that with an opposition to Dodd then you can see why he got the most attention early when people had the bulk of their cash to give.
Hostettler didn't really catch on until really late and I personally thought Coats was a shoe-in until the RedState crowd jumped into it out of nowhere. Plus the seat wasn't even really in contention until Bayh retired out of nowhere.
John DuBose| 8.11.10 @ 4:52PM
Being right is not enough to be elected dog catcher. You must convince a majority that you share most of their prejudices.
The time of Barry Goldwater, Ron Paul and Peter Schiff is not yet. But eventually ..
Michael| 8.11.10 @ 5:24PM
This goes to prove that we, Americans, do not want our problems solved because we do not know the problems. It aso shows that when the country is flushed into the toilet, there is no one to blame but ourselves, for we refuse to educated (empower) ourselves. We want to be dictated. Do not look beyond our mirrors to find the answers.
Pro-Liberty| 8.11.10 @ 9:49PM
As a Ron Paul republican living in Indiana I spent hours both going door to door and standing at the polling places for Hostettler. With that said it was his campaigns fault for not having a solid website earlier on and utilizing people like me earlier on. I literally spent weeks trying to contact the campaign by phone and email and had no reply. John Hostettler however, is a very good guy and hope to see him again on the trail.
EDL| 8.12.10 @ 2:18AM
It doesn't work that way. There was cross over, but there were MANY liberty candidates. Some Ron Paul Republicans actually liked SOME candidates over Rand, because they thought he was too 'conservative'. Then, those who liked Rand might or might not have had Schiff as their next priority. It is just where most people crossed over in support, given finite time and resources. People are INSPIRED. Hofstettler just didn't inspire as many people the same way as more purist candidates.
edl| 8.12.10 @ 2:21AM
PS - He didn't get his message out in the forums very much, and not until people were kinda 'booked' with other candidate demands. Getting people's attention relatively early is important.
Eric Dondero | 8.12.10 @ 10:55AM
The biggest thing to come out of the Schiff candidacy from a movement perspective, was watching the Ron Paul-ists do backflips trying to explain away Schiff's Pro-Defense stances - bomb Iran, support for the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Schiff is a Pro-Defense Libertarian. Like Rand Paul incidentally.
Ron Paulists who viciously bashed Rudy Giuliani in 2008, were left backing a guy who had a virtually identical position to Giuliani on Defense.
I think they owe Giuliani and other Pro-Defensers an apology.
Eric Dondero - Libertarian Defense Caucus
Ron| 8.12.10 @ 3:04PM
You get paid to show up on every blog and lie? Schiff has never, ever been for the war in Iraq. He wants to pull out of both wars. The only hawkish thing he's said is that he'd bomb nuclear missile facilities in Iran if they were proven to exist (but would not invade).
Rich | 8.13.10 @ 12:24AM
Eric- I'm confused. Are you Eric Dondero or Eric Dondero Rittberg?