Vaughn Ward: Second Impressions

I was pretty shocked last week when I got an e-mail from Vaughn Ward’s campaign suggesting we get together. I wrote about my first impressions of Ward when I saw him at a Central Committee when he gave a speech that had a couple errors in it and more importantly, what I interpreted as his desire to be a career politician, by touting his age as an ability to stay in Washington for a very long time.  I’d also criticized the campaign e-mail between Ward and Roberts for turning into a battle of endorsements v. money.

I was pleasantly surprised by the meeting, and actually getting down to talk with Ward. We held court at Denny’s and in the interest of full disclosure, Ward did pay for my drink with his own personal cash. However, he didn’t expect to buy me with a Diet Coke.

Ward answered many of my top concerns. He assured me that he knew for sure he wanted to serve more than one term, but didn’t plan to leave Congress in a body bag after 40 years.  That’s encouraging.

He made a reasonable case for why he was announcing the fundraising: because it showed momentum and the papers weren’t going to cover it.  More importantly, he pointed out that he has been talking issues at townhalls that have been soliciting a lot of public questions.

He also emphasized that the circumstance of his speech weren’t ideal, given some limits placed on the speech, and that he usually prefers a townhall-style of meeting. That’s a fair point and he’ll have many opportunities to prove himself  to voters, as he continues to meet with him across the State.

I got a sample of that in my own Q&A at Denny’s. And overall, I was pretty impressed with what I heard. It wasn’t necessarily that I agreed with him and I did on most issues, but rather that he seemed to be talking like a citizen as opposed to a politician, as we talked about things like TARP.

One thing that had concerned me was Ward’s work withMcCain. It wasn’t because he was an ideological disciple of McCain. He didn’t start with McCain until May. He said he’d preferred the Executive experience of Romney and Huckabee, but once McCain was the nominee, he wanted to see McCain win v. Obama or Hillary. He said that his staff in Nevada was a big mixture of supporters from other primary campaigns.

He expressed his  strong opposition to bailouts and his belief in following capitalism as opposed to the road of bailouts. He also supported auditing the Fed. He was very articulate on Afghanistan.

I no long worry about Ward being able to dispatch Walt Minnick in 2010. In fact, Ward’s overall strategy is quite reminiscent of the insurgent campaign that Minnick ran. Minnick, too, had townhall meetings, and spoke to people. The difference for Ward is that he speaks to a lot greater portion of the Idaho Constituency.

I’m not endorsing Ward at this point, though, I’ll certainly be open to share anything I learn that will be of interest.  I think his stances on the issues are solid, and I could support him without reservation in a General Election.

Ken Roberts has the support of many of the finest conservatives in the State, and I will definitely go and listen to him before its all said and done and he has a conservative voting record. However, he’s going to have a very tough road to hoe against Ward.

I believe very much in the scriptural admonition to lay hands on no one suddenly. The intangible one faces is not just where a candidate stands right now, but how they’ll be shaped and changed by Washington. It raises questions that only God can answer and requires some thoughtful deliberation and prayer. And Ward certainly gave me plenty to think about today.