As my first post here at IndieRegister.com, I’d like to highlight what will likely be a very public mudfight: The race for eastern North Carolina’ss 3rd Congressional seat.
2010 appears to be a semi-replay of 2008 in several ways. Congressman Walter B. Jones Jr., the Republican incumbent, will probably face primary competition from former Onslow County Commissioner Joe McLaughlin. McLaughlin faced Jones Jr in the 2008 primary election. An early follower of the Tea Party group, McLaughlin targeted Jones Jr for his lack of conservative credibility and flipping on his previous support for the ongoing occupation of Iraq.
McLaughlin lost to Jones Jr after not being able to raise the money necessary to generate much interest. McLaughlin has stayed out of the limelight until recent letters to editor of the Jacksonville Daily News began indicating his interest to run against Jones Jr again.
2008 seems to be repeating itself for Democrats in North Carolina’s 3rd District as well. Craig Weber has announced through e-mails that he’s going for a third run against Jones Jr. Weber has lost the general election in 2006 and 2008 by huge margins and wasn’t able to raise much money either time. Weber attacked Jones Jr from the left, attaching then-President George Bush’s failure in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as domestic failures like the response to Hurricane Katrina.
Like 2008, Weber will face a primary challenger. Then, it was former Marine and contractor Marshall Adame. This year it will be Greenville attorney Johnny Rouse. Rouse has the advantage of being mostly unknown, while Weber has a reputation for being an angry campaigner and has left a trail of hurt feelings from his previous campaigns. Even with Weber’s notoriety, his policy goals are as unknown as Rouse’s.
2010 is shaping up to be a repeat of 2008 and possibly 2006 for eastern North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District. Will history repeat itself and see Congressman Jones Jr in Washington or will a challenger, Republican or Democrat, find a chink in his armor?
Thomas Brock is a freelance writer from Jacksonville, N.C. He writes about news and events in Jacksonville and Onslow County, local politics and his life at http://blogs.brocknet.net/bloviations.
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Jones is like all the rest, it will not be an election it will be a cornation. Jones has a ton of money and a lot more will come into being now that the Supreme Court has spoken. The money will come in from defense contractors. Jones is big on war, his support of Bush and the war funding, “it will keep us safe and we will bring freedom to the world”. This Jones is just like his father. The people will vote him in because he is their god.
Interestingly enough, the Jacksonville Daily News reported today that a fellow from Sneads Ferry is running against Congressman Jones for the Republican nomination (URL http://bit.ly/9pfYDQ).
Bob Cavanaugh of Carteret County will also be challenging Jones in the primary.
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Richard, you must be a few years behind on the news.
Walter Jones has been calling his support for the Iraq War the biggest mistake he’s ever made for years now.
While the natural assumption might be that Jones has taken up with Ron Paul, a look at Jones’s positions in the last 4 or 5 year show him more in line with Dennis Kucinich. He’s the one Republican incumbent in this state that definitely has to go.
Jones has changed his view on the war because he was hit big time with letters and complaints from people who have lost their spouse/ children. He is trying to do damage control just to get re-elected, that is all he cares about. He did the same thing with the marriage thing, talked about it then after the election forget it.You are right, he has got to be replaced, in fact they all have to be replaced.
I’m not so sure about that his views on the war are insincere. I’ve seen him speak about his position on the wars and he states that he is ‘at peace’ and that he ‘sleeps well at night’. Many people in the military were angered by his position and he has had to sell them on it. If you look at the piece on my blog that links to the Mother Jones article, you’ll see that he worked hard to defend his position to the military families in his district.
Richard, Jones’s anti-war views make no sense for him electorally, and I’m sure he’s smart enough to know it.
He’s a long-time Republican incumbent in an overwhelmingly Republican district; turning against his own base opens him to the only way he can realistically be defeated, primary challenges.
Like lmkitties said, Jones is sincere in his views here.
Hey this blog has some errors. Craig Weber is now Republican as well as Bob Cavanaugh both going against Jones in the Primary. Rouse is the only Democratic running. The “angry campaigner” Craig expresses in his campaigning is miscontrude and is really just “PASSION” for the ideas of the people he wants to represent. He is tired of misjustice of common everyday good people. I have known him 33 years.
Weber is now a Republican, give me a break. He ran as a Democrat and now the only chance he has of getting elected is to put a R behind his name. Hopefully the ppl are not that stupid.
Weber claims to be a lifelong Republican who switched parties just so that he could challenge Jones in 2006 and 2008. Here is a quote from Weber to someone who inquired about his party affiliation. I was copied on his reply.
“I have been a Republican all my life. The only reason I went to the other side for 06 and 08 was to take Walter out of Congress because I feel he is very weak, erratic and non involved when it comes to main issues. “