If this guy and Bush are my only two choices for Pres, I'm voting for this guy because at least his economic policies won't be totally insane. _____________ Bush's GOP rival in primaries includes U. City millionaire By JO MANNIES Published: Wednesday, Nov. 19 2003 Blake Ashby is approaching his bid for the White House with the same build-from-scratch fervor that helped make him a millionaire businessman before he was 40. As the University City entrepreneur sees it, he's got nothing to lose - and a lot to gain - by taking on President George W. Bush, a fellow Republican whom Ashby voted for in 2000. Ashby, 39, launched his first political bid this week when he filed against Bush in the Republican presidential primaries in New Hampshire and Missouri. So far, Ashby is the president's only GOP opponent in New Hampshire and among two in Missouri. More primary filings are in the works, Ashby said Wednesday, adding that he's prepared "to spend whatever is necessary" - including some of his own millions - to promote his message. Ashby made his money as co-founder of an independent communications provider that got started in the mid-1990s "in the basement of a Laundromat" and ended up being bought out by a deep-pocket competitor. Even so, his new quest is daunting. Bush has the name recognition, the support of virtually all prominent Republicans and close to $200 million in the bank. But Ashby asserts that Bush, and the Republican-controlled Congress, have ignored their party's founding principles. Ashby's chief beef: the budget deficit. "A $400 billion deficit is a massive distortion of our economy," he said in telephone interview from Concord, N.H., where Ashby campaigned Wednesday before flying back home to St. Louis. "Deficits are stealing from our children, and not a way to run a government." Ashby - whose views spew out at machine-gun speed as he warms up - adds that he's not the only Republican frustrated to watch the size of government balloon while his own party is in charge. "Something is wrong with that picture," Ashby said. "We're historically the party of a balanced budget, small government and a free market." Ashby's campaign flier also asserts that "the extreme social conservatives are taking over this party - and it's time for freedom-loving moderates to take it back." He opposes abortion, for example, but believes the federal government should stay out of the issue. Still, Ashby, who is single, said he decided to run for president only a month ago, out of frustration when it became clear that no prominent Republican was willing to take on Bush. "I have nothing but respect for the president," he said. "But if you think something's wrong, do you just step aside?" John Hancock, spokesman for the Missouri Republican Party, doesn't see Ashby as a threat. "George W. Bush is an extremely popular president who's going to get re-elected and who has the absolute support of the Republican Party," Hancock said. "Every election, there are gadfly candidates who file." But Ashby insists that he can't be swatted away, and will campaign against Bush through next year's presidential convention. Ashby was born in Florida, grew up in Kansas City and ended up in St. Louis about 14 years ago. He got involved in state Republican politics soon after, working as an aide with the state House Republican Caucus and with some local campaigns. U.S. Sen. Jim Talent was in the Missouri Legislature at the time and "remembers him as a young man with a lot of ideas," a Talent spokesman said Wednesday. In the mid-1990s, Ashby and three friends founded Primary Network Communication, which offered telephone and Internet service. It expanded to five states, with a work force of hundreds, before it was acquired by Mpower Communications Corp. of Rochester, N.Y., in 2000 for "$150 million and some change," Ashby said. Since then, Ashby says he's had his hand - and pocketbook - in several other start-up companies in various fields. Ashby plans to keep up his business interests, while devoting about 40 hours a week to his campaign. In the Missouri primary, Ashby also faces Bill Wyatt, a California businessman who opposes the Iraq war. His Web site - Ashby2004.com - went up Wednesday, and a campaign office is expected to open soon. As for his chances of winning the White House, Ashby observed: "I don't start anything to lose."
Sounds like my kind of guy. He's a young, self-made millionare, true fiscal conservative who could pull a Reagan in this year's primary and make some noise in 08 possibly. If I vote in the Repub primary (not likely), I would cast a ballot for him.
I can't vote in the Republican primaries, but this guy sounds like a nice alternative to the Bush Corporate Gravy Train. He obviously has no chance in hell, but he could make a little noise in 2008 or 2012.
