Ex-Rep. Hunter Touts Iraq War Vets To Revive GOP

By Emily Cadei | June 23, 2009

Duncan Hunter, a retired Republican who once chaired the Armed Services Committee, has decided that Iraq War veterans are the perfect candidates to revive the Republican Party in 2010.

Hunter -- a Vietnam War vet who briefly sought the 2008 Republican presidential nomination -- is already backing two such candidates as they launch challenges to two of the more junior members of the House Democratic majority: Jesse Kelly, who wants to take on two-term incumbent Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona's 8th District, and Vaughn Ward, whose target in Idaho's 1st District is freshman Democrat Walt Minnick.

Hunter will be attending a series of brunches, receptions and a golf outing in Tucson this weekend with Kelly, who said Hunter is a big attraction in conservative circles in his district in Arizona's southeastern corner. "He did very well in early presidential polls down here," Kelly noted, referring to Hunter's 2008 bid.

During much of his House career, Hunter represented a California district that stretched from San Diego east to the border of Kelly's home state of Arizona, though for the past decade the 52nd District has been confined to San Diego County in California's southwest corner.

Hunter said he is then headed on to Idaho to attend events on behalf of Ward, who is likely to face a crowded primary for the right to take on Minnick. The Democratic incumbent, who overcame the strongly Republican bearings of Idaho's 1st District to oust one-term Republican Rep. Bill Sali in 2008, also is a military veteran, having served in the Army in the early 1970s.

Hunter said he has "a real appreciation" for "the guys coming off the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan," and, moreover, thinks they can make great candidates. He said the GOP needs to get away from its typical approach "where we stand up a businessman," and instead get behind "young, hard-charging" candidates like Kelly and Ward.

Both of the political newcomers served in the Marine Corps, which gives them something in common with Hunter's son -- and House successor. The freshman congressman, also named Duncan Hunter, won the 52nd District seat in 2008 after the elder Hunter left it open first to pursue his short-lived White House bid and then to retire.

Other 2010 GOP House candidates that fit that profile include New York Assemblyman Greg Ball, who is challenging second-term Democratic Rep. John Hall in the state's 19th District, and businessman Mike Pompeo in the race for Kansas' open 4th District seat.

But the recent electoral track record of military vet candidates is mixed, at best. The 2008 election cycle saw a proliferation of military veterans running for federal office, but few were competitive and even fewer won their races.

The exceptions included the younger Hunter, and Democrats Eric Massa in New York's 29th District and John Boccieri in Ohio's 16th, both of whom took over seats that had been held by Republicans. Massa unseated two-term Republican Rep. John R. "Randy" Kuhl Jr., while Boccieri captured the seat left open by the retirement of 18-term Rep. Ralph Regula.

More common were losses by candidates such as Sean Sullivan in Connecticut's 2nd District, Kieran Michael Lalor in the 19th District of New York and Charlie Summers in Maine's 1st District, all of whom lost by wide margins in districts where competitive races had been thought possible early in the 2008 cycle.

Hunter concedes that building up campaign infrastructure -- particularly fundraising -- is a challenge for candidates recently returned from the front lines. "These guys have great quality, what they didn't have in the last race was a couple million dollars in the bank," Hunter said.

So he's out to change that. Hunter said he plans to continue campaigning and attending fundraisers throughout the 2010 cycle for a handful of GOP candidates.