Thursday, July 29, 2004
Tom Coburn
Tom Coburn, pictured on the left, won the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate Tuesday by a 2 to 1 margin over his closest opponent. This was not the expected result. A past member of Congress, Mr. Coburn was one of the "Contract for America" 1994 freshmen who believes that a politician should do what he says he is going to do in the campaign. He is a brave fighter for limited government and took the cause so seriously that he was part of the small group that tried to remove Newt Gingrich from the Speaker's position in a famous coup attempt when he thought that their leader had betrayed their cause. Mr. Coburn took a term limit pledge when he was swept into office and therefore as a physician returned home to practice medicine after being in Washington D.C. for 6 years. He is now running for the Senate.
Mr. Coburn wrote a fantastic book about his experience in Congress entitled Breach of Faith, which I am now reading. I learned about the book after seeing him interviewed on C-Span's "Book Notes" television program. Yesterday, Brian Lamb hosted Washington Journal and begged people from Oklahoma to call-in so they could explain how Mr. Coburn won the primary.
Mr. Coburn now faces a very popular Democrat in November and he is not expected to win. I bet he will. Coburn's victory the other day shows what happens when a politician with strong morals presents his case directly to the people.
