Mobile | RSS
You choose, we deliver
If you are interested in this story, you might be interested in others from The Journal Gazette. Go to www.journalgazette.net/newsletter and pick the subjects you care most about. We'll deliver your customized daily news report at 3 a.m. Fort Wayne time, right to your email.

Commentary

  • Being Amanda Berry
    This is not the ending, and surely little other than the escape will seem happy once the facts begin to flow.May 7, 2013
  • Tamerlan Tsarnaev's favorite YouTube videos
    WASHINGTON - Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the suspected Boston Marathon bomber shot dead by Boston police early Friday morning, may have left some interesting clues to his motivations on YouTube. A user with the same name posted five of his favorite videos on April 19, 2013
  • Chechnya's war may have just arrived in the U.S.
    Let’s hope the FBI gets to the remaining suspect before the Chechen refugee community in Boston does.April 19, 2013
Advertisement
Associated Press
In this Feb. 10, 2012, file photo, Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. West gave up his fight to remain in Congress on Tuesday after two weeks of recount battles in court.
Last updated: November 26, 2012 6:40 p.m.

Worst week in Washington: Rep. Allen West

Column Aaron Blake | Washington Post

Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., has never been afraid to make news.

So it’s only fitting that his re-election campaign was the biggest remaining story line of the 2012 election last week.

West conceded defeat Tuesday after a drawn-out legal battle did not yield the results his campaign was hoping for.

The freshman congressman and tea party favorite trailed by less than 1 percent of the vote once the race was certified, apparently handing victory to his opponent, Democrat Patrick Murphy, 29.

But West wasn’t going quietly. Although his losing margin was outside the threshold for an automatic recount, his campaign and legal team pointed to irregularities in the counting of early votes in St. Lucie County and persuaded the county to recount the votes.

The result? West’s deficit expanded slightly, to more than 2,000 votes. His campaign quickly succumbed to the fact that it had lost, and West issued his concession statement.

West’s re-election campaign was tough from the start.

He had managed to win a Democratic-leaning West Palm Beach district in the GOP wave of 2010. When redistricting shuffled the state’s map, he drew the short straw, having to choose between running in a Democratic-leaning district and a swing district to which he had little connection. He chose the latter.

During the campaign, West raised more money than any other vulnerable House candidate in the country -- more than $17 million as of mid-October. He also suggested that a significant swath of the House Democratic caucus is composed of closeted Communists, and ran a TV ad featuring a mug shot of a Murphy underage drinking arrest, contrasting it with his own military service.

Alas, it wasn’t enough. West joined his fellow tea party firebrand, Rep. Joe Walsh, R-Ill., in defeat.

We’re sure West will land just fine (Fox News Channel, anyone?). But for now, it’s gotta sting.

Allen West, for winning the legal battle only to lose the electoral war, you had the worst week in Washington. Congrats, or something.

Blake is a frequent contributor to The Fix, a politics blog for the Washington Post.

Share

Advertisement