Ben Quayle, a Republican, may be the best-known congressional candidate in the country who isn't a member of the "tea party." Ben Quayle won the nomination. He's running against the well-financed and personable Democrat Jon Hulburd on Nov. 2 to replace John Shadegg in the 3rd Congressional District. But Quayle has big issue he has to address in order to have an easier campaign.
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| Senator John McCain endorsing Ben Quayel |
Are his nine former opponents now willing to rally behind him? This is an important question, because they took 78 percent of the vote and presumably have some influence with their supporters. With so many candidates running the Republican Party had a lot of division especially with the candidates. Now that Quayle had the nomination would his opponents and party lobby behind him? Steve Moak, the runner hadn't decided whether to offer his support to Quayle, which no surprise is because Quayle attacked his professional reputation. According to http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/RobertLeger/97849 Quayle has gotten support from 5 other candidates like Jim Waring so stated “I will support Ben in this race. I told him I would help as he thought appropriate." LeAnn Hull said Quayle should reach out to the other candidates. "He's so young and inexperienced. He doesn't understand my struggles as a business owner or a parent. We could help him." Senator John McCain also threw in his support for Quayle saying "Ben Quayle has the kind of fighting spirit we need now more than ever in Washington.” Needless to say Quayle is building more momentum receive endorsements from fallen party opponents, allows him to get the support of not only the candidate but there followers as well and give him more votes.
Hulburd on the other hand ran unopposed, so he has had his entire party support since day one. But still, as the Democratic candidate in a majority republican district Hulburd has his work cut out for him. He will have to cross party lines and sway some undecided voters to have a shot at the seat.
This is an interesting situation because it shows the dangers of burning bridges in politics, and how making alot of enemies can come back to haunt a politician. Quayle clearly is not popular among his former primary opponents, and now he is having a difficult time garnering support from them. Negative campaigning and mudslinging is always seen in elections, but when you go too far, as Quayle apparently did, there are consequences.
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