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Reflections from a day of GOP events

For some reason, every Republican event that I was invited to this year was scheduled for last Thursday, providing a flurry of choices during an otherwise slow season. I chose to attend Jim Gerlach’s fundraiser (without paying) in Malvern and Congressional candidate Damian Dachowski’s campaign event/health care town hall meeting in Huntingdon Valley.

Between them I saw a lot of what is right about the Republican Party right now… and something about the challenges it faces.

The Gerlach event was classic Republican: a nice house and a big lawn in horse country, with the big donors in the house and the rest of us in a well-appointed tent eating BBQ. Gerlach is a classic politician—smooth, well-organized, looks like you could punch him in the chin and he would bounce right back smiling. His basic approach seems to be to gather support in southeast Pennsylvania and present himself as the younger, more articulate alternative to Tom Corbett, who still has somewhat more organizational support.

The crowd, like the location, was pretty mainstream for state Republicans—a few anti-Obama bumper stickers but mostly the same kind of moderate-to-conservative group you would see in any other year. Gerlach’s themes—jobs, ideas, competition—were likewise time-tested and (for the most part) nonthreatening.

Fast-forward to the Dachowski town hall which was, well, more lively. The moment I walked in I saw more energy than I’ve seen from any of Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz’s (D-13) Republican opponents in several years.  The event, if predictably stacked in a conservative direction, was spirited and well-attended. Actually, a bit too well-attended—the back wall was lined with a group of rather grim-looking people holding Schwartz signs, while many of the questions were on the combative side, and panel members were repeatedly interrupted with cries of  “Nonsense,” “You’re wrong,” “Health care is right,” and similarly inspired messages (not all the yahoos are on the Republican side, it seems).

Still, if not exactly Lincoln-Douglas, it was a spirited and mostly civil discussion of an important policy issue, and I give Dachowski a lot of credit. Even Schwartz’s district director attended, presumably on her own time.

The bottom line: There are a lot of good Republican candidates and a lot of good issues out there, and their supporters are far from just a group of crazies, certainly no more than the other side is.

But neither can one assume that President Obama’s travails will filter to Republicans at the local level without a lot of hard work. There are many powerful constituencies—labor, teachers, political activists—who will come out of the woodwork if the liberal agenda is threatened and it will be a very difficult fight.

Out in horse country, you can assume that not too many of them will show up. In the real world, it’s just a little bit harder.

September 8, 2009 at 10:44 am

--Michael Livingston

Tags: Damian Dachowski, Jim Gerlach, PA-13

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