The Republican Party’s presidential hopefuls are full of ideas. But will any of these policy innovations survive, let alone save, the GOP?
Republican candidate running for Congress in 4 different states
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| Allan Levene is running for Congress in his home state of Georgia and three other states.Allan levene |
Talk about hedging your bets.
While some might put their money on both the Broncos and Seahawks this weekend, a 64-year-old Republican congressional candidate is putting himself and his money into not one, but four races at the same time. Allan Levene is running for the House of Representatives in his home state of Georgia -- as well as Michigan, Minnesota and Hawaii.
While Levene's plan is unorthodox, it also seems to be legal.
The Constitution says a person elected to the House must be a resident of the state they will represent when elected, but says nothing about the primaries. So, Levene's logic goes, he doesn't have to pick one race unless and until he wins a primary.
Levene's reasoning is simple: he wants to be a member of Congress and feels he is too old to follow a traditional path by working his way up in local government. A naturalized citizen originally from England, he told FoxNews.com he feels compelled to serve.
“I have such a debt to this country, a debt of gratitude to the United States for taking me in and letting me become a citizen about 40 years ago that I have to repay it,” he said. “I just have to.”
Though his plan certainly risks turning off voters in the states where he does not live, Levene said he got the idea when he was studying the Constitution and realized it was legal.
“The Founding Fathers wrote in the Constitution -- they didn't really understand you could fly from state to state because people couldn't really travel before, they could only really focus on one state where they lived,” he said. “Times have changed so I am running in four states.”
First up on Levene’s agenda is his home state, Georgia, where he is running to replace GOP Rep. Phil Gingrey in the state's 11th District. Gingrey announced last year he will seek the Republican nomination for Senate in the race to replace GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss.
The 11th district is holding its open primary in May, three months earlier than the other states where Levene is running. Levene says he is focusing on that race for now, but if he is does not win the primary he will turn his focus to the other three.
One of the main issues Levene is running on is jobs. He said he wants to reduce the corporate tax rate to zero, with the hopes of bringing manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. and creating a “tax haven” for overseas businesses. He also has a proposal he says will stop overspending in Congress by forcing incumbents out of office. His plan would allow lawmakers to be in office no more than eight years or nix their pensions.
All four of the districts Levene is running in are districts in which the incumbent is not seeking another term. Levene says he chose them for various reasons, but does not feel the fact he does not live in them should impact his electability.
“I can represent the public no matter where I live,” he said.
However, K. Mark Takai, a Hawaii state representative running as a Democrat in the same race for Hawaii's 1st district, is skeptical of that claim. Takai told FoxNews.com while he respects Levene's right to run in multiple states as long as it's legal, he finds his strategy a "bit odd" and is not sure it will resonate with Hawaiians.
“It’s the heart of democracy. The heart of representative government (is) you want someone to represent you who represents your community and its people," Takai said.
However, Levene says he is already garnering strong interest in Hawaii and some interest in Michigan, because his ideas are ones that resonate across state lines.
“People are people everywhere, and they are all interested in the same thing,” he said
By Roger Freed,
If Republican Candidates Had Lived at Other Times in History
If the recent crop of Republican candidates had lived in other time periods, what would they have said at these key events?
THE MIDDLE AGES — A WITCH BURNING:
The Roman Colosseum by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, a 1757 engraving.
SANTORUM: This harlot before us is one of Satan’s own who has used her for a tool of His evil! We must burn her until only the ashes of her sinfulness remain. The evidence shows her wickedness: She was seen dancing naked in the moonlight, she does not attend church on the Sabbath day, and she bathes only once a month. This last sin should make her burn all the easier!
ROMNEY: I thinketh that we should allow for the possibility that she was dancing naked to get rid of all the lice that had attached to her from not bathing. If she is truly evil then she of course should be burned, but let us be sure of ourselves. Of course if the big business owners say burn her, then by all means.
GINGRICH: I get to be the one to put the torch to her!
PALIN: (in the background) Burn, baby, burn!
THE HANGING OF NATHAN HALE, September 1776:
SANTORUM: The verdict is that this traitor to our beloved King George has spied upon our British brethren and conspired to aid the traitors that would tear this new land from the bosom of her sovereign mother, the British Empire. It is righteous before God that he be hanged from the neck until dead!
ROMNEY: I think we should look at all aspects of this situation. The man is perhaps misguided into aiding the colonies minute men from the delusion that they have that they can form a new nation out of this scrub grass land. I must remind you that he is also only twenty one years old and his mind can perhaps still be reformed into more correct thinking and he could again become a stellar British citizen. Unless of course the big business owners want him hung, in which case I am all for it.
GINGRICH: I get to be the one to push him off the scaffold!
PALIN: (in the background) Hang, baby, hang!
KRISTALLNACHT, GERMANY, 1938:
SANTORUM: We must send this Jews a message that they are not welcome! They are inferior beings who do not belong in our great Fatherland! The do not follow the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ who died for their sins. In fact, they murdered him! They should all be burned out!
ROMNEY: I think we should allow for them to leave peacefully. It is true they don’t belong here, but we don’t need to smash up perfectly good business store fronts. Now if the big companies want them out then we should back them up.
GINGRICH: (looking around) Where is a brick I can throw?
PALIN: (in the background) Huh? What language are you guys speaking? You aren't French are you? I don’t like the French.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, 1799:
SANTORUM: We need to execute these rich scum. They are leeches that suck the blood out of our very marrow. They sap the vitality from the heart of this great country- our poor working people! Let their heads roll! Their blood will feed the soil that will enrich this country again.
ROMNEY: No! Wait a minute! I’m not that rich! Let’s be reasonable about this! I….I…I. I’ll give you a couple of my mansions! How about that? You could fit a lot of poor people in one of them! No! Stop! I give to charities! Really I do!!…..Stoppppppp!!!…..
GINGRICH: I got dibs on his head for a souvenir!
PALIN: (in the background) Oooh, yuck! I’m surrounded by French!
THE ROMAN COLOSSEUM, 57 A.D.:
SANTORUM: These Christian heretics are lucky that we do not turn our gladiators out on them. The lions will give them a quicker death. These traitors to our gods undermine our glorious Roman state with their sniveling religion. They do not represent the grand Roman people who now control most of this continent.
ROMNEY: I think we should give them a little more chance. Maybe give them a sword or whip to even out the match a little bit. They are misguided people. Maybe simply a few lashes will bring them back to our way of worship. Now if the lion supply company wants them killed then……
GINGRICH: I’m placing bets of 50 to 1 in favor of the lions.
PALIN: (in the background) Do they sell any diet wine here? What kind of a cheap place is this that doesn't sell diet wine? I've got to watch my figure.
Now, if Ron Paul had been there he would have tried to stop the witch burning, tried to hide Nathan Hale, not taken part in Kristallnacht, protested against the French guillotining and helped the early Christians. But the others have already pushed him to the side
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