GOP Minority Outreach Alert

Republicans:  still failing miserably at minority outreach, even to black Republican women.

A county Republican Party chairman in central Illinois called a black female congressional candidate the “love child” of the Democratic party; a “street walker” whose “pimps” are party leaders; and suggested that after the election, she will be “working for some law firm that needs to meet their quota for minority hires.”

And it's a Republican candidate he's talking about.

Montgomery County GOP Chairman Jim Allen wrote the comments in an email to a Republican website, regarding Erika Harold. She is the former Miss America and Harvard Law grad who is seeking the Republican nomination for the 13th Congressional District, which stretches from Champaign to the Metro East.

The episode is an illustration of the unusual state of the GOP in Illinois, where the party tends to fight with itself more than it does with the ruling Democrats.

Allen is a supporter of incumbent U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, whom Harold is challenging for the GOP nomination next year. Allen's letter appears today on RepublicanNewsWatch, an independent website by conservative Republicans who have challenged the more moderate GOP party leaders in the state.

You get a two-fer here folks, not only are we racist but misogynist as well.

On paper, Erika Harold is exactly the kind of candidate the Republican Party needs if it is going to stay relevant.  Harvard Law graduate?  Miss America winner?  That's a devastatingly awesome combination of intellect and charisma that any politician would die for and any party should be glad to feature.

And yes, I keep saying that we need an alternative to the Dems to keep them honest.  Eventually, anyway.  If Harold wants to run as a Republican that's her choice, but I would have to think that she'd at least be considering a run with Team Blue on some level.  I hope.

Just another reminder that there's a cost, folks.  A real one.