FreedomWorks, a Texas-based political action committee which was active in the failed anti-Referenda C & D campaign in 2005, is back for more in Colorado.
The organization headed by former U.S Representative Dick Armey (R-TX) issued a Fall Campaign Battle Plan press release today that was heavy on militaristic symbolism as a call to arms for conservative activists to get involved in its $4 million campaign.
A number of federal Democratic candidates were named in the release as targets of the group’s wrath, including Colorado’s Ed Perlmutter in CD-7 and Jay Fawcett in CD-5.
During this election cycle, FreedomWorks will educate and mobilize likely voters on where candidates stand on crucial economic issues and provide voters with in-depth information on problems facing our country, such as retirement security, out of control government spending and a ridiculous and overly- cumbersome tax code. The FreedomWorks GOTV campaign employs old fashioned “shoe leather” politics with a standing army of almost a million experienced political volunteers who are leading election year activities, including events with candidates, phone banking and GOTV calls, canvassing neighborhoods with literature and calling into local radio talk shows. To further support our on-the-ground activities, FreedomWorks Chairman Dick Armey will be traveling to selected districts/states.
Dick Armey may be best known in Colorado for a contentious debate with Gov. Bill Owens last year over Referenda C & D. According to The New York Times:
In June Mr. Armey, a Texas Republican, swept into town for a televised debate and called Mr. Owens a pledge-breaking politician caught drinking “backslider’s wine.” Smiling through clenched teeth, Mr. Owens accused Mr. Armey of adding billions to the national debt while in Congress, and his allies passed out copies of Mr. Armey’s budget votes.
That was garden-party talk compared with the comments from Mr. [Grover] Norquist, who said in an interview that Mr. Owens had gone “beyond weak-kneed; he’s put on the other team’s uniform and is leading the charge.” Retorting in another interview that Mr. Norquist “never lets the facts get in the way,” Mr. Owens said his former ally had “tried to threaten me” with political reprisal, and he challenged him to a debate.
Mr. Norquist later responded: “Consider that an accepted challenge. He’s finished nationally.”
Expect more rhetorical fireworks from the sharp-tongued Armey in the hotly contested CD-7 race between Perlmutter and conservative Rick O’Donnell and the surprisingly competitive candidacy of Fawcett against Focus on the Family favorite Doug Lamborn, winner of a six-way primary squeaker, in CD-5 earlier this month.
