The Other McCain

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Can Charles Lollar Beat Steny Hoyer? ‘Another Marine Reporting, Sir . . .’

Posted on | September 27, 2010 | 75 Comments

Friday afternoon at the Army-Navy Club in Washington, I arrived for a luncheon arranged by Smitty with the helpful assistance of his friend Ron Miller. Here you see your fedora-wearing friends with the guest of honor:

That handsome guy in the middle is Charles Lollar, Republican candidate for Congress in Maryland’s 5th District, a seat currently held by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, who is the second-ranking Democrat in Congress and Nancy Pelosi’s chief henchman.

You want to beat Steny, don’t you? Well, Lollar is the man for the job.

Here’s the thing: Democrats think Hoyer is bulletproof, but there are good reasons to believe that the incumbent is far more vulnerable this year than anyone suspects. As I explained before the primary, GOP candidate Collins Bailey got 80,000 votes in 2008 — a high-tide year for Democrats when Obama carried the 5th District by a 2-to-1 margin. 

Democrat enthusiasm is way down this year, so their turnout is likely to be far lower. In 2006, a midterm election that was also a big year for Democrats, there were barely 200,000 votes cast in the 5th District race. So if there is a similar turnout Nov. 2, and Lollar merely matches the GOP’s 80,000 total from 2008, that puts him at 40%. Add another 15,000 votes, and he’s in shocker-upset range.

Three weeks ago, I thought Lollar had a shot, based simply on analyzing the district and reading his biography: An up-through-the-ranks Marine intelligence officer — a major in the USMC Reserve. But after having lunch Friday with Lollar, I’m telling you flat-out: This guy’s a winner, if we can just get him the money to do it.

Kick in $20 for Charles Lollar and make it happen.

Let’s analyze the 5th District a bit: As I said, nobody thinks Hoyer is vulnerable. Congressional Quarterly rates it a “safe Democratic” seat and Cook rates it D+11, which is why we can expect no help from the National Republican Congressional Committee. This is one of those races the geniuses at the NRCC think can’t be won so they don’t even bother trying.

However, it’s worth pointing out that two years ago, a Democrat won in Maryland’s 1st District, even though that district is rated R+13 by Cook. Obviously, the NRCC has targeted MD-1 as a “must win” seat to take back this year, while MD-5 — where Republicans have a chance to do in reverse what Democrats did in MD-1 in 2008 — is not on anybody’s radar. If Democrats can win an R+13 in their high-tide year, why can’t the GOP win a D+11 in this year of the Big Red Wave?

Make the wave happen: Give $20 to elect Charles Lollar.

MD-5 is on the western bank of Chesapeake Bay, east of D.C. and south of Annapolis. MD-5 contains all of three counties — Calvert (pop. 89,000), St. Mary’s (pop. 103,000) and Charles (142,000) — with the remaining 300,000 or so of the district’s population in parts of Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties.

In 2004, George Bush got more than 75,000 votes in Calvert, St. Mary’s and Charles counties — beating John Kerry by 57%-43% — so these are the real GOP strongholds of the district. Hoyer’s support is strongest in Prince George’s County, where the population is 66% black.

Prince George’s has long been viewed as terra incognita by Maryland Republicans — even in the high-tide Bush year of 2004, the county went 82% for Kerry — but Lollar told us Friday that he’s been campaigning hard there, stressing “jobs, jobs, jobs.”

The unemployment rate in Prince George’s was nearly 8% in July, a statistic that doesn’t fully reflect to level of economic stress in the county, a Washington suburb that has been hit hard by the real-estate crash. Delinquencies and foreclosures have been near crisis levels for more than a year. Prince George’s saw 1,800 foreclosures filed in February alone, and nine of the top ten ZIP codes for most foreclosures in the D.C. area were in Prince’s George’s.

Obviously, this wasn’t the Hope and Change the voters in Prince George’s County had in mind when 89% of them voted for Obama two years ago. Lollar thinks many of those voters may be ready to look beyond their traditional Democratic loyalties.

You see that Lollar has a solid campaign strategy: He can count on strong support in the three Republican-leaning counties in the south end of MD-5 (he served as chairman of the Charles County GOP), while working to win over independents and disillusioned Democrats in Prince George’s.

Give $20 now to elect Charles Lollar.

Hoyer is a 71-year-old career politician who has been in Congress for 20 years. If voters are really looking for change, 39-year-old Charles Lollar is what they’re looking for. He is a dynamic speaker, very popular with Tea Party crowds, who has gotten some amazing responses. At one forum where both Hoyer and Lollar spoke, people in the audience approached Lollar afterward offering to write checks for his campaign — and adding that they were lifelong Democrats.

Now you’re asking, “OK, is he conservative?” Take my word, he’s rock solid. Or you can ask Smitty. During lunch Friday, at one point I told Smitty that Lollar makes me look like a mushy moderate, and that’s saying something. But don’t take our word for it — you can ask any of the Tea Party Patriots in Maryland who know Lollar and support him enthusiastically. He’s also been interviewed by Moe Lane of Red State and endorsed by Combat Veterans for Congress.

Please take just a few minutes to watch this video of Lollar’s speech at the Code Red Rally in March:

And if you thought that was awesome, now watch this video of Lollar’s Freedom Plaza speech during last year’s 9/12 March on Washington:

Hey, have you given $20 to help elect Charles Lollar yet?

If not, have you given $50 or $100?

Just how bad do you want this Marine to beat Steny Hoyer?

Years ago, I worked on a project collecting the oral histories of World War II veterans. In their scrapbooks and wartime diaries, several of them included variations on a poem that humorously recounted the hardships of a Marine’s grueling service in one of those god-forsaken Pacific hellholes like Guadalcanal or Okinawa. That bit of popular G.I. doggerel evidently was reworked to fit the circumstances of different units, but it always ended with this verse:

And when I get to Heaven,
Saint Peter I will tell:
“Another Marine reporting, sir —
I’ve served my time in Hell!”

Lollar is another Marine reporting, and here’s what I said yesterday about his fellow Marine, Sean Bielat, running against Barney Frank:

When you tell a Marine to “take that hill,” he’s gonna by God take that hill, or die trying. . . .
Are you gonna let a Marine die on that hill?

You can follow Charles Lollar on Twitter and also on Facebook, but there are now only 36 days until Nov. 2. If Lollar is going to beat Steny Hoyer — if he’s gonna take that hill — he needs money, and he needs it today.

Semper fi!

CHARLES LOLLAR for U.S. CONGRESS

UPDATE: Barbara Espinosa: “Dollars for Lollar.” I like it!

Category: Congress, Election, Maryland

Comments

75 Responses to “Can Charles Lollar Beat Steny Hoyer? ‘Another Marine Reporting, Sir . . .’”

  1. Joe
    September 27th, 2010 @ 11:40 am

    Smitty and Stacy, Thanks for promoting Charles Lollar. I suppose we need to be sending him some dollars!

  2. Positively Taxed Enough Already!
    September 27th, 2010 @ 12:11 pm

    Wonderful!
    Yes – Charles Lollar needs your $Dollars$
    He is a Common Sense Conservative.
    He is a Patriot.
    He is a man of Honor and Integrity.
    He looks you in the eyes when he speaks to you.
    He means what he says and says what he means.
    He will make the 5th Congressional District of Maryland proud.
    We finally have the man that will bring Americans together. It’s not about Party – It’s about doing whats right.
    Send him your money today and help make history – A Maryland Miracle! A New Day For Maryland!

  3. Dave C
    September 27th, 2010 @ 12:18 pm

    I spent my weekend in southern Maryland..

    Saw a LOT of Lollar signs..

    Hoyer.. not so much..

    For what it’s worth..

    (in the St. Mary’s County, Lexington Park area)

  4. John Rowe
    September 27th, 2010 @ 12:54 pm

    I have volunteered in campaigns since 1963. Charles Lollar is the most exciting candidate I have ever met! Let’s help him pull off a Maryland Miracle, and retire the self-proclaimed Tax and Spend Liberal Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

  5. Barbara Espinosa
    September 27th, 2010 @ 1:02 pm

    Will link to American Freedom

  6. kansas
    September 27th, 2010 @ 2:13 pm

    Did you two fellas with the hats notice there’s a colored man in your picture? (Kind of from the movie “The Blind Side”.)

  7. feba
    September 27th, 2010 @ 2:25 pm

    Another Reserve Marine Major here to show support. He’s the real deal alright. I serve with a few who are just like him, and trust me, their subordinates would follow them right through the gates of hell.

    Next payday, he’s getting $100 from me & mine.

    Jeez, I’m gettin’ all misty at just the thought of dislodging Hoyer…

  8. J. J. J. Junior
    September 27th, 2010 @ 2:42 pm

    Kansas, take your racist crap somewhere else.

  9. Maureen Brooks
    September 27th, 2010 @ 3:13 pm

    Lollar has my vote and what financial support I can give him. He’s listening to the people in Southern Maryland unlike Steny Hoyer who is out of touch and working his own agenda.

  10. Bruce N
    September 27th, 2010 @ 3:14 pm

    Charles Lollar could be our next Ronald R.

  11. Joe
    September 27th, 2010 @ 3:25 pm

    Give me Lollar, Lollar, Lollar,
    And I will feel a whole lot better,
    Give me Lollar, Lollar, Lollar,
    Sent a dollar in a letter,
    He’s a Marine trained savior,
    We can tell Denny see ya’ later.

    He is Lollar, Lollar, Lollar.

  12. Robert Stacy McCain
    September 27th, 2010 @ 3:34 pm

    @JJJJ

    Kansas, take your racist crap somewhere else.

    I think he was just making a pop-culture reference to a line in a recent movie, “The Blind Side,” which was NOT racist. Someone correct me if I’m wrong.

  13. Joe
    September 27th, 2010 @ 3:38 pm

    We can tell Denny Stenny see ya’ later.

    My bad.

  14. Joe
    September 27th, 2010 @ 3:48 pm

    I can see November 2nd from my house.

    I stole that from commentator 30 pcs of silver at Hot Air, but it is a great comment and I am sure he will not mind.

  15. J.J.J. Junior
    September 27th, 2010 @ 4:19 pm

    RMS, I saw the word “colored” and just assumed he was some type of moby troll.

  16. Reveille InCaseUMissedIt Headlines
    September 27th, 2010 @ 5:06 pm

    […]                                September 27, 2010:TheOtherMcCain: Can Charles Lollar Beat Steny Hoyer?  Another Marine reporting for duty……Washington […]

  17. Robert Stacy McCain
    September 27th, 2010 @ 5:52 pm

    just assumed he was some type of moby troll.

    Yeah, I know, but her referenced “The Blind Side,” a Christian-themed movie about a white family that adopts a young black man. I haven’t seen the movie, but I just off-hand I would guess that the line paraphrased comes from a scene where an older “concerned neighbor” tries to warn the family about a suspected intruder at their house — who, of course, is the teenager they’ve adopted.

    If my guess is correct (again, I haven’t seen the movie), then the line from the script that “kansas” used was actually mocking racism. But I’ll trust that some reader who has seen the movie will explain all this, and correct me if I’m wrong.

  18. About That Gavel, Nancy……
    September 27th, 2010 @ 7:29 pm

    […] this last time around.   Steny, as it turns out…has retention problems of his own…  Check out Charles Lollar,  yet another kick-ass Marine  who is answering the Republican reveille to the […]

  19. Joe
    September 28th, 2010 @ 1:39 am

    Stacy, you haven’t seen The Blind Side?

    That is a very good movie.

  20. El Cerdo Ignatius
    September 28th, 2010 @ 7:59 am

    RSM:

    Prince George’s has long been viewed as terra incognita by Maryland Republicans — even in the high-tide Bush year of 2004, the county went 82% for Bush…

    Methinks you mean it went 82% for John Kerry

    Still, great job getting to meet Mr. Lollar. A win in this district, getting rid of Hoyer, would definitely leave a few skid marks.

  21. Husker
    September 28th, 2010 @ 9:03 am

    $50 on the waayyyyy

  22. Margaret Miller
    September 28th, 2010 @ 9:48 am

    Yes! Send money! BUT…….get out there! Contact the campaign, get some palmcards, and do what I am doing up here in Laurel. Go to the Post Office, knock on some doors, hand them out when you are getting gas, going to the store, eating at a restaurant!
    It is truly amazing that so many haven’t even heard of him….but there facial reactions show very positive!

  23. Reaganite Republican
    September 28th, 2010 @ 1:02 pm

    With Dingy Harry sweating it in Nevada, Fwank fwustwated, and Boxer on the ropes… here’s another statist aparatchik that needs to go-away… and now’s the time.

    Go get ’em Major…

    Linked at Reaganite Republican

  24. ej
    September 28th, 2010 @ 2:16 pm

    I’m all in for Charles Lollar. An additional donation is on the way… Let’s git’ er done!

  25. hispanicvoter
    September 28th, 2010 @ 2:29 pm

    $250.00 just sent from Laurel, MD. Another $250 coming up soon, plus one vote for Lollar.

  26. demontjoie
    September 28th, 2010 @ 4:57 pm

    I’ve met him several times and my daughter has interviewed him for The Daily Caller.

    He is the REAL DEAL and is giving “Steny the Whore” a run for his money. And Steny is running scared!

  27. Ace
    September 28th, 2010 @ 4:59 pm

    I just made my first $$ donation of the 2010 cycle.

  28. MD-5 UPDATE: Charles Lollar Endorsed by Ace of Spades and Dude Named ‘Mitt’ : The Other McCain
    September 28th, 2010 @ 6:26 pm

    […] just fine in their districts.” – Nancy PelosiFor some reason, Instapundit didn’t link Monday’s big post about Charles Lollar, a Marine intelligence officer challenging Steny Hoyer in Maryland’s 5th District. But this […]

  29. Hoyer vulnerable? « Crush Liberalism
    September 28th, 2010 @ 6:30 pm

    […] Hmmmm.  How delicious would that be?  Story here, but lemme drop an appetizer on you: Here’s the thing: Democrats think Hoyer is bulletproof, but […]

  30. Can Charles Lollar Beat Steny Hoyer? - Southern Maryland Community Forums
    September 28th, 2010 @ 9:38 pm

    […] […]

  31. But When You Assume « Robomonkey's Blog
    September 29th, 2010 @ 10:45 am

    […] interesting this morning: House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) may actually be in trouble. The Other McCain has some speculation (H.T: Ace of Spades): In 2006, a midterm election that was also a big year for […]

  32. Bill Dosse
    September 29th, 2010 @ 1:33 pm

    You need a snail-mail address for a contribution to Charles Lollar. I no longer use my credit card on the internet.

  33. Chris
    September 30th, 2010 @ 12:12 am

    You know, for a “white supremacist,” you certainly do support a substantial number of persons of color. Could the SPLC possibly be lying about you?

  34. Robert Stacy McCain
    September 30th, 2010 @ 12:21 am

    @Chris

    If you accuse the SPLC of lying, guess what that makes you?

    RAAAAACIST!

  35. Robert Stacy McCain
    September 30th, 2010 @ 12:27 am

    You need a snail-mail address

    When you click the contribution link, it says:

    If you would like to send a check instead of making an online credit card donation, you can mail a check to: Charles Lollar for Congress, 8201 Corporate Drive, Suite 500, Landover, Md. 20785

  36. Death by Consultantitis (Cont’d) : The Other McCain
    September 30th, 2010 @ 6:49 am

    […] some numbnuts sending out press releases. Just in the past couple of days, I did a widely-praised profile of MD-5 challenger Charles Lollar, broke an exclusive on the O’Donnell campaign’s first major attack on Chris […]

  37. Hey GOP: Fortune Favors the bold « Da Techguy's Blog
    September 30th, 2010 @ 10:19 am

    […] from Washington. What kind of Stories? Well how about reports from candidate forums Georgia or Profiles of candidates in Maryland or interviews with candidates in NC and California or reports direct from […]

  38. Support Charles Lollar | novatownhall blog
    September 30th, 2010 @ 7:33 pm

    […] More about Charles Lollar here. […]

  39. The Dysfunction of Maryland Politics and The National Scene » By Lori Roman, Regular Folks United – Is Steny Hoyer on the Ropes?
    October 1st, 2010 @ 4:35 am

    […] “Pelosi’s Pet”, indicating they don’t buy his line that he is a moderate. Blogger Stacy McCain makes a strong case for Hoyer being vulnerable and recently Dick Morris mentioned this race as one […]

  40. Lawrence DeWeil
    October 1st, 2010 @ 12:54 pm

    I’d LOVE a Lollar win! I vicariously vote for him – via a campaign contribution. My Brooklyn NY district needs a similar smart, articulate, and honest candidate.

  41. Cin9016
    October 17th, 2010 @ 6:01 pm

    If you are on the fence about who to vote for or even if you think you have made up your mind because of your political preference, PLEASE check out Charles Lollar before you go to the polls!!! We need a man like Charles Lollar in Congress!