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Jim DeMint Scuttlebutt? Anything Behind Resignation?

Foolmewunz

Grammar Resistance Leader, TLA Dictator
Foolmewunz
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First off.... Gossip???

Other than the fact that someone is proposing Colbert for the Senate seat from SC, I found no background scuttlebutt or rumors on the interwebs. (No, I won't go to ATS or Prison Planet. I meant "semi-reputable" scuttlebutt.)

Has anyone got anything of interest, or is he legitimately happier to be the head of the Heritage Foundation than a US Senator. Is he butthurt that the GOP is tilting away from his Tea Party buddies, or at least trying to? Does he have a little brown lovechild no one knows about? Did he have a tryst with a Russian flight attendant named Boris? Inquiring minds want to know.

Secondly.... Speculation???

Now that Nikki's not going to be Romney's Secretary of Stupid (she was a shoo-in for the post), why wouldn't she just appoint herself Senator? There are names being bandied about, but no one's mentioned Herself. SC has term limits, so even if she's re-elected (by no means guaranteed), she's done as Governor and would have to mount a challenge to one of the Senators, anyway (no way a gov goes to the House)... assuming she wants to stay in the spotlight and continue her career.

I'm sure she can create a groundswell of interest in the next few weeks - she's got the GOP national teams on her side. Why wouldn't she appoint herself? In, say, Delaware this might be considered cynical, but we're talking South Carolina Republican politics.
 
JoeTheJuggler said:
He's moving on to a position of much greater power: head of the Heritage Foundation.

Well. . .that's pretty much how he described it.

ETA: But yeah--he's leaving the end of the year. Not just a rumour:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.co...-demint-will-step-down-from-senate/?hpt=hp_t2
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Uh, I know it's not a rumor. I'm looking for rumors. I find his story a bit much to swallow. I'm sure head of the Heritage Foundation is a plum posting, but giving up a prime Senate seat? It doesn't jibe.
 
Foolmewunz said:
Uh, I know it's not a rumor. I'm looking for rumors. I find his story a bit much to swallow. I'm sure head of the Heritage Foundation is a plum posting, but giving up a prime Senate seat? It doesn't jibe.
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Maybe a childish response to the Boehner "purge" in the House?
 
I can only guess what goes into his calculus. On the one hand, he just saw his party miss again in its try to retake the Senate majority, and might have divined that the next two cycles would bring the same disappointment. On the other hand, the Heritage Foundation has an $80 million budget (not to mention the $1.1 million salary paid to its outgoing leader) and is an important generator of legislation and policy ideas for the conservative movement.

Also, I checked in on the commies over at MSNBC tonight, and one of them, fellow South Carolinian Jim Clyburn, noted that DeMint has poor relationships in the Senate within his own caucus. He might be a better fit for this new job, where he gets the be the boss, rather than being one of a hundred bosses.
 
I think hgc has the nub of the thing. DeMint sees at least a decade of being in the minority in the Senate and having very limited power. He's in an elite pond, but he's just a guppy wallowing around in the shallows. Over at Heritage, he'll be the big kahuna with a really fat pay packet. Better, he'll be ensconced in the winger bubble and won't have to kowtow to those evil libruls. Hell, he won't have to even rub shoulders with them. What's not to like?

Will Nikki appoint herself? I have my doubts. What's wrong with Mark Sanford? :)
 
Well here's one rumor (not Colbert, but a Colbert connection):

Source: Haley Considering BBQ Chain Founder As ‘Placeholder’ Replacement For DeMint

A Republican source in South Carolina tells TPM Gov. Nikki Haley (R) is considering filling Sen. Jim DeMint's (R-SC) Senate seat with Chad Walldorf, owner of the Sticky Fingers regional chain of barbecue restaurants. Walldorf is the chair of the South Carolina Board of Economic Advisors and a former deputy chief of staff to Gov. Mark Sanford (R). The source says Walldorf is being considered as a "placeholder" choice.
. . .
Through Sticky Fingers, Walldorf once paid $50,000 for a portrait of Stephen Colbert to display in its Charleston location as part of a charity drive by the Comedy Central host.
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When he strikes himself down, he shall become more powerful than we can possibly imagine.
 
SezMe said:
What's the value of a placeholder? Holding a place for whom?
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A placeholder is Senate appointee who won't run for the office when the special election to fill the remainder of DeMint's term is held in 2014. Presumably the place would be held for Haley herself. If shes has someone other than herself in mind for 2014, she'll just appoint that person now. The value is that she gets to play out the rest of her term as governor.
 
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Makes sense, hgc. Is a special election in 2014 a foregone conclusion or is it up to the discretion of <somebody>?
 
hgc said:
A placeholder is Senate appointee who won't run for the office when the special election to fill the remainder of DeMint's term is held in 2014. Presumably the place would be held for Haley herself. If shes has someone other than herself in mind for 2014, she'll just appoint that person now. The value is that she gets to play out the rest of her term as governor.
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If it's allowed under state law, I think she'd be smarter to forego the placeholder move and just appoint herself (after manufacturing a groundswell of support for the idea and making sure she has her secession set up to her satisfaction).

I think the placeholder move could backfire. Her argument would be very noble-sounding, of course, that she wants to be Senator and wants to serve the great state of South Carolina, but wants to give the people a chance to speak. But she'd be running as a one-term governor who hasn't really accomplished much other than creating work for the Supremes on Obama Care and Voter ID. To the best of my knowledge both of those efforts come up short, so she might even get resistance from the TP right.
 
hgc, analysis of DeMint rings true.

As to the Barbecue guy for Senator, I can get behind that. Then again, as I am not from South Carolina, I don't get to say.
 
Nothing prevents the "placeholder" from running for re-election in 2014.
 
Mark6 said:
Nothing prevents the "placeholder" from running for re-election in 2014.
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Well, the idea is that if they're really serving as a placeholder, they step aside as agreed. If there's any danger they won't do so, you find someone who's 100% loyal who will.

It's sort of like the "rabbit" in distance racing. They could keep going, but they generally live up to their agreement.
 
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