The Hill notes that NRA seems reluctant to put their full weight against Kagan:, quoting from the head of another conservative group:
The group said Kagan’s record shows “nothing to indicate support for the Second Amendment†and promised to count her confirmation vote as a “key vote†when compiling congressional scorecards.
But it has not waged the intensive grassroots campaign some conservative activists had hoped for. These activists believe the NRA is reluctant to strain relations with Democrats, such as Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who often side with gun owners in legislative fights.
From what I’ve seen so far, that full weight is behind it. NRA is urging membership to contact their Senators, and have several times. I’m not sure what kind of “grassroots campaign” that Steve Levey is expecting. This is pretty standard fare for a major vote. I’m also not sure how he can critique their strategy on the Hill, considering that his organization would seem to have no presence on it. The big problem is that 5 Republicans are defecting on the Kagan vote, and a lot of Democrats are sure to defect. Defeating a nomination is hard.
What Democrats are counting on is that NRA won’t be able to mobilize anger on election day over Court nominations. Maybe they are right, but in that case I don’t have a lot of faith we’re going to get broad and robust Second Amendment protections.
I’m not sure what they expect, either. I’ve seen email alerts (general & targeted to certain states), ads in DC, ads on Facebook (new for them), and I thought I saw an ad on Google the other day. Every time they email as of late, it’s to mobilize opposition against Kagan. I don’t think I’ve talked to anyone who doesn’t know that NRA is opposing Kagan and has asked members to contact their Senators.
“I’m not sure what kind of “grassroots campaign†that Steve Levey is expecting.”
Bunch of people in purple t-shirts brought with buses from local union halls protesting and egging the opposition. That is grassroots for them.
I’m not sure you should fault the guy (Levey) for answering questions posed by a reporter.
Perhaps, according to Levey’s experience (or lack of) the NRA are not putting that much into the effort to keep Kagan out of SCOTUS, and are in fact, more worried about their ‘won-loss’ record.
Tell me; does the NRA believe in such low-tech methods as a phone tree to contact members? When I was in the Marine Corps, we didn’t trust email alerts and web announcements to validate mobilization readiness. It seems to me that a well-organized phone tree would be much more effective at having folks actually call senators ,.. or have members show up at local offices to voice their displeasure.
I’m sure they are worried about their win-loss record, but it’s too late for that, really. Once you start running ads and trying to get people to call, you pretty much have it on the line, regardless of much else.