Dustin Roberts Announces for HD 21

To continue with the Bryan County political news, another Republican has announced for State House District 21, being vacated by Rep. John Carey (D-Durant). In July, we reported that Jack Accountius was running - today, Dustin Roberts announced his candidacy for the same seat.

Dustin (Pryor) Roberts, a Republican of Durant, has announced his candidacy for the District 21 State Representative seat currently held by Democrat John Carey.

“I am asking the people of the 21st district to give me the honor of representing them in our Oklahoma State Capital,” said Roberts, in a news release.

“Today marks the beginning of a campaign that will try to push the boundaries of political lines, working hand-in-hand with the great people of District 21 and our capital leaders, building a stronger district and a greater state. It is important to examine each of the candidates that will be representing one of the strongest districts in the great state of Oklahoma.”

Roberts was born in McAlester but raised in Durant by parents Pam Roberts and local businessman Dennis Roberts. He is a Durant High School graduate, where he participated in football and track.

Upon graduation in 2003, Roberts enlisted in the United States Navy to serve the nation and fight the war on terrorism.

In his five-year career in the United States Navy, Roberts was the recipient of two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals for his efforts in the Horn of Africa situation and again in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In 2004, Roberts was awarded as the Blue Jacket of the Year and honored with an invitation to the Presidential Inaugural Ball and Inaugural Address. He was promoted, through the Command Advancement Program, to 3rd Class Petty Officer by the Command Master Chief and Commanding Officer of VFA-143. Later, Roberts was awarded Junior Sailor of the Year for the leadership role he took on his second deployment.

After five years of enlistment in the U.S. Navy, Roberts enrolled in Southeastern Oklahoma State University, where he is pursuing a degree in education.

While enrolled at SE, Roberts is also a partner in his family’s business, All Star Beverages, a drive-thru convenience store.

Roberts and his wife of five years, Lindsay Valles Roberts, of Calera, are members of the Durant Elks Lodge and Calera United Methodist Church.

Together, they volunteer with organizations such as Relay for Life and March of Dimes, and are avid supporters of the local 4-H, FFA and athletics programs.

It's highly unusual for a contested Republican primary in either south-east or east-central Oklahoma, which has been dubbed "Little Dixie" due to the highly Democratic nature of voter registration here. This just speaks to the political climate today, both anti-incumbent and anti-Democrat. This could be a great opportunity for the GOP to gain another state legislative seat in the 2nd Congressional District. Currently, only three Republicans hold seats within the district - State Rep. Tad Jones in Claremore (term-limited), State Rep. Doug Cox in Grove, and State Rep. George Faught in Muskogee.

Tulsa GOP Straw Poll: Brogdon Smashes Fallin

The Tulsa County Republican Party held a well-attended rally on Saturday, February 6th. At the rally, said to be attended by between 400 and 600 people, a straw poll was taken of several different races that will be on the ballot in Tulsa County. Here are the results, taken from an email from the Tulsa County GOP (with some minor formatting changes in the results).

Straw Poll Results Are In

The rally that was held Saturday was a huge success. The Lemley Center was packed and almost every Republican candidate running in the federal and state wide election this year was present along with many of the county officials up for re-election.

Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett welcomed everyone and gave a short report on the progress of his administrations actions since being elected.

Vice Chairman J.B. Alexander gave a status report on the Tulsa County Republican Party during which he challenged everyone present to get actively involved with the county party.

Vice Chairman Alexander stated "Our forefathers gave of their time, talents and treasures to create this nation and we need to do the same to ensure our Freedoms and Liberty's are protected in order to save this Republic".

Chairman Sally Bell reorganized our veterans by arranging for the VFW 5th District Honor Guard to present the colors and to present the flags of all five branches of the armed forces. Seventeen year old Elissa Stiles of Owasso gave a wonderful presentation titled "Taught by Example" which honored our veterans.

Elissa took second place with this presentation in last years statewide VFW "Voice of Democracy" competition. Her presentation this year won her first place in the state and she will be traveling to WashingtonDC this spring to compete nationally. Congratulations Elissa!!

Now here is the information many people are waiting for. A straw poll results.

The following question was asked concerning the below listed races:

"If the election were held today, who would you vote for...."

U.S. Congress, District 1
John Sullivan (i) - 52.9%
Nathan Dahm - 26.6%
Fran Moghaddam - 1.5%
Undecided - 13.3%
Not My District - 5.7%

Governor
Randy Brogdon - 68.4%
Mary Fallin - 23.6%
Robert Hubbard - 0.8%
Undecided - 7.2%

Lieutenant Governor
John Wright - 35.7%
Todd Lamb - 22.4%
Undecided - 41.8%

Attorney General
Ryan Leonard - 25.9%
Clark Jolley - 7.6%
Undecided - 66.5%

State Treasurer
Owen Laughlin - 18.3%
Ken Miller - 15.6%
Undecided - 66.2%

Superintendent of Public Instruction
Janet Barresi - 36.9%
Shawn Hime - 6.1%
Undecided - 57.0%

Labor Commissioner
Tad Jones - 18.6%
Jason Reese - 11.4%
Mark Costello - 9.5%
Mark Mullin - 0.4%
Undecided - 60.1%

State Senate, District 34
Tim Coager - 16.0%
Rick Brinkley - 13.3%
Undecided - 17.1%
Not My District - 53.6%

State House, District 68
Howard Pidcock - 11.4%
Glen Mulready - 8.7%
Undecided - 20.5%
Not My District - 59.3%

State House, District 75
Dan Kirby (i) - 9.1%
Dennis Adkins - 3.0%
Undecided - 20.9%
Not My District - 66.9%

Tulsa Co. Commissioner, District 3
Fred Perry (i) - 17.9%
Michael Masters - 10.6%
Undecided - 24.3%
Not My District - 47.1%

A full copy of the survey and straw poll will be posted on the Tulsa County Republican Party web site later this week.

Race-by-race analysis:

1st Congressional District
This is by no means bad news for John Sullivan. In fact, I think it's somewhat disappointing for Nathan Dahm. This would have been the easiest time for Dahm to weight the vote towards him, but he failed to really challenge Sullivan. Dahm's support is going to be higher among the grassroots GOP faithful than it is among the average voters, since the activists will be more upset with Sullivan.

Governor
I was particularly pleased to see State Sen. Randy Brogdon with such a large lead. Congresswoman Mary Fallin again failed to attend, a trait that is occurring far too often to be mere coincidence. Fallin is angering many in the GOP grassroots by ignoring Republican meetings across Oklahoma, and particular on this side of the state. If she isn't careful, there may not be many in the grassroots of the party left who haven't be wooed by Brogdon.

Lieutenant Governor
The underdog in this race, outgoing State Rep. John Wright, had a respectable lead (even if Tulsa County is practically his home turf). Wright has a tough hill to climb in beating State Sen. Todd Lamb, however.

Attorney General
Ryan Leonard held a substantial lead over State Sen. Clark Jolley, who I really think should not run for this seat. Leonard would make a great Attorney General, and I'm glad he's holding a big lead in this race.

State Treasurer
I was very glad to see that former State Sen. Owen Laughlin edged out State Rep. Ken Miller in this poll. Laughlin, being from up near the Panhandle, will have a much harder time getting his name out than the establishment pick, Miller (the current Appropriations chairman in the State House), but it is refreshing to see him leading.

State Superintendent
Janet Barresi holds a huge lead over newly-arrived Shawn Hime. This race may get dirtier than the others, as rumors are already flying over Hime's entrance (such as 'Hime is Democrat Sandy Garrett's hand-picked successor'). Where these rumors originated may never be known, but Hime may face some difficulty nevertheless once he starts to get on the campaign trail.

Labor Commissioner
I was disappointed to see how little support Jason Reese received in Tulsa County. Reese is a stellar candidate, who fits the office perfectly. His main opponent, establishment pick and outgoing State Rep. Tad Jones, has very few (if any) qualifications for the job that I am aware of, but as the Majority Floor Leader in the State House will be able to raise gobs of money. The wildcard is Mark Costello, who loaned his campaign $104,000 on December 29th.

Senate District 34 will be an interesting race to watch. With Randy Brogdon running for Governor, who will take his place? Coager seems to have a slight lead right now. I know nothing of House District 68, other than the race is to replace term-limited House Speaker Chris Benge. House District 75 is currently held by Dan Kirby. Dennis Adkins opted not to seek reelection in 2008, but still has a campaign account open with $130,000 left. Tulsa County Commission District 3 may be an indication of disgruntlement over Fred Perry's support of the failed River tax.

As a straw poll, these figures have to be taken with a grain of salt (take Ron Paul's presidential campaign, for example; he won many straw polls, but ended up with 5% of the vote), but they are a good indication of grassroots support - very important for campaigns. A loss is by no means shattering, but a win is very helpful, especially for an underdog going up against a much more well-known opponent.

Latest News Roundup

Since I've been gone since the 31st, here's a quick roundup of the news that I'm aware of that has taken place in the meantime.

U.S. Senate news:

• Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) was quoted in a soon-to-be-released book on the 2008 Presidential election as saying that Barack Obama was "light-skinned", "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." GOP leaders point to the double-standard in how Reid is being treated for his comments and how Republican Sen. Trent Lott was after his comments several years ago. Reid continues to trail GOP opponents by 5-10 points.
  
• Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) announced that he will not run for reelection this year. He had been facing a very difficult race, with the top Republican candidates leading him by up to 10 percentage points. His stepping aside may make it easier for the Democrats to hold the seat.
• Scott Brown, Republican candidate in the special election for Ted Kennedy's old seat, is now neck and neck with Democrat Martha Coakley. Brown held a "money-bomb" today, with a goal of raising $500,000. However, by mid-afternoon, over $750,000 had been brought in, and the current goal is now $1,000,000 (at 7pm CST, $878,000 had been raised).>
• Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) trails relatively unknown GOP candidates by 10-12 points in the latest polls.
• Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) announced that he will not seek reelection, in a move that has drawn sitting Republican Governor John Hoeven into the race. Hoeven had been beating Dorgan by substantial margins in recent polls.
  

U.S House news:

• Democrats still are on pace to lose a ton of seats in the midterm election this year. Rep. Parker Griffith of Alabama switched parties shortly before Christmas, reminiscent of the party switches that took place in 1994.
• Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK) believes that the balance of power in the House will be very close, but that due to that he will have the most influence he's ever had, no matter who is in the majority.
  

Other news:

• State Rep. and Majority Floor Leader Tad Jones (R-Claremore) announced his intention to run for Labor Commissioner, joining fellow Republican Jason Reese as the announced opponents for Democrat incumbent Lloyd Fields.
• The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA) is sponsoring a news site, with a focus on the State Capitol and governmental affairs. CapitolBeatOK.com launched at the end of December.
• Apparently, parts of Oklahoma experienced an extremely rare lake-effect snow while I was gone...
• Congresswoman Mary Fallin (R-CD5) leads State Sen. Randy Brogdon (R-Owasso) by about 50% in the latest gubernatorial election poll. She also cruises to victory over Democrats Drew Edmondson and Jari Askins.
  

... and that's about all I can remember to post. Let me know if I missed something big while I was in the Mexican Riviera, taking in the 80° weather!