Watching the 2024 Republican National Convention from Milwaukee brought back memories of my two times attending the RNC, as a delegate in 2004 in New York City and as a reporter in 2008 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Those links will lead you to BatesLine coverage of those two conventions. On...
Posted by Michael Bates on July 24, 2024 9:55 AM
This Thursday night, January 30, 2020, starting at 6 pm, the Tulsa County Republican Party will hold precinct meetings, the first stage in the process for selecting delegates to the Republican National Convention and developing a party platform. The meetings are open to all registered Republicans. To simplify the logistics,...
Posted by Michael Bates on January 27, 2020 8:33 PM
Tom Nichols, a prominent "Never Trumper," and author of The Death of Expertise, has written an op-ed for The Atlantic to explain why he's leaving the Republican Party. It's hard to take Mr. Expert seriously when he uses the "GOP" as the subject of a sentence, as an entity with...
Posted by Michael Bates on October 8, 2018 12:37 PM
If you haven't already, please read my little essay about the purpose of a political party. Grounded in the view that a political party ought to stand on principle above personality, tomorrow at the 2017 Tulsa County Republican Convention I'll be voting for David McLain for Tulsa County GOP...
Posted by Michael Bates on March 24, 2017 11:48 PM
We are at interesting point in Oklahoma's political history. Never before has the Republican Party ever been so dominant, but never before has it been in such danger of betraying the ideals that won it its dominant position. The task of the moment is not merely to win elections, but...
Posted by Michael Bates on March 21, 2017 8:19 PM
A subdued mood prevailed Saturday as 857 delegates convened at FirstMoore Baptist Church for the 2016 Oklahoma Republican Convention. (The 2012 convention drew approximately 1,400 delegates.) The state convention in a presidential year has a national focus, electing two members of the Republican National Committee, electing 25 at-large delegates and...
Posted by Michael Bates on May 16, 2016 10:59 PM
Tulsa County Republicans will meet in precinct caucuses tonight, Thursday, February 4, 2016, at 6:30 p.m. the first step in the quadrennial process to elect delegates to the Republican National Convention and members of the Republican National Committee, and to determine the party platform. Groups of Tulsa County precincts will...
Posted by Michael Bates on February 4, 2016 12:58 AM
On Wednesday, I attended the Tulsa rally for presidential candidate Donald Trump with former Alaska Gov. and vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, held at ORU's Mabee Center. I was there as a member of the news media; I received an email at 7 pm the night before the event saying that...
Posted by Michael Bates on January 24, 2016 11:17 PM
UPDATE 2015/11/10: Congratulations to David McLain, who has won the SD 34 GOP primary, with 42% of the vote to John Feary's 39%, a margin of 70 votes out of 2,137 cast. Because there is no runoff, McLain advances to face the Democrat nominee, J. J. Dossett, in the January...
Posted by Michael Bates on November 9, 2015 7:27 PM
Politics is about change. If you don't believe change is possible, you're not an advocate for politics; you're simply a guy taking a check, discussing which other guys should get checks. Ace posted this over a week ago, in reaction to John Boehner's resignation, but it's still worth your time...
Posted by Michael Bates on October 4, 2015 11:02 PM
Tulsa County Republicans will meet in precinct caucuses this Saturday, January 31, 2015, at 10:00 a.m. the first step in the biennial process to elect state, county, and precinct party officials and to determine the party platform. Most Tulsa County precincts will meet at central locations within their State House...
Posted by Michael Bates on January 29, 2015 11:52 AM
The first step toward electing county and state officials and reshaping the platform for the Oklahoma Republican Party is about to get underway. GOP precinct caucuses for Tulsa County will be held over the next three days (Thursday through Saturday, February 7-9, 2013); each precinct chairman can select the precinct's...
Posted by Michael Bates on February 7, 2013 12:03 PM
I was out of town, but last Friday, the Tulsa Republican Club had as its speaker a proponent of the Vision2 corporate welfare and pork barrel tax package. At its October meeting, the Tulsa Republican Club will hear from an opponent of the Vision2 package. A glance through my email...
Posted by Michael Bates on September 24, 2012 12:08 AM
This post has been percolating in my brain for a couple of months, and the topic for even longer, but other business has prevented its completion until now. As I read conservative blogs, I see a great deal of understandable frustration with different aspects of Republican Party politics: The National...
Posted by Michael Bates on April 17, 2012 12:02 AM
There's a theory being circulated among conservative bloggers and Tea Party activists that we shouldn't worry about the likelihood of bailout-backing, mandate-loving, flip-flopping Mitt Romney winning the nomination. Anyone can beat Obama, the theory goes -- even with Romney unable to run against Obama on Obamacare -- and if we...
Posted by Michael Bates on March 29, 2012 1:21 AM
Tulsa County Republican activists gathered today at the Union High School Performing Arts Center to decide on delegates to the congressional district and state Republican conventions and to adopt a platform that will inform the work of platform committees at the state and national conventions. The only dispute in the...
Posted by Michael Bates on March 24, 2012 7:47 PM
Your opportunity to shape the Republican Party's principles, personality, and personnel begins with tomorrow's Republican precinct caucuses. Republican caucuses for most Tulsa County precincts will be held tomorrow morning, Saturday, February 4, 2012, at 10 a.m. Most of the rest of Oklahoma will hold precinct caucuses on Monday evening, February...
Posted by Michael Bates on February 3, 2012 11:57 AM
Newt Gingrich is challenging the plurality-takes-all allocation of Florida's 50 delegates to the Republican National Convention. Mitt Romney finished first in the January 31st primary with 46% of the vote, which means, according to rules adopted by the Florida state party rules, Romney gets all 50. Republicans in Florida and...
Posted by Michael Bates on February 3, 2012 8:32 AM
Florida turned out as expected, but as I wrote right after South Carolina, there's no need for anyone of the remaining candidates to head for the exits. Mitt Romney's campaign is restarting the inevitability bandwagon. Pundits are falling over each other to be the first to declare that it's all...
Posted by Michael Bates on February 1, 2012 12:58 AM
The Wall Street Journal has a fascinating interactive graphic, with stair-steps showing how allocated Republican delegates accumulate over time in 2000, 2004, 2008, and 2012. It's striking to see how far to the right everything has moved this year. The massive step up on Tsunami Tuesday (February 3, 2008) has...
Posted by Michael Bates on January 22, 2012 10:52 PM
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