John Hawkins kicked off the year-end awards with a bunch of us right-of-center bloggers choosing the Conservative of the Year award. Out of the following list of 20 picked by John, the members of the panel picked between 1 and 3 in an unranked order:
- Dick Armey/Matt Kibbe
- Michele Bachmann
- Haley Barbour
- Glenn Beck
- Andrew Breitbart
- John Boehner
- David Bossie
- Jan Brewer
- Scott Brown
- Chris Christie
- Jim DeMint
- Mike Duncan/Karl Rove/Ed Gillespie
- Erick Erickson
- Pamela Geller
- Bobby Jindal
- Sarah Palin
- Tim Phillips/Phil Kerpen
- Marco Rubio
- Paul Ryan
- Allen West
I’ll make you go over to Right Wing News to see the surprise winner and 5 of the other top 7, but I’ll explain my choices here:
- Paul Ryan (who is in the top 7) – Call me a homer if you must, but I’ve been a Ryan supporter even before redistricting put Oak Creek into the 1st Congressional District. John’s profile: “This congressman from Wisconsin became a conservative sensation because of his Roadmap for America’s Future, which was re-released in 2010.”
- Erick Erickson – Despite RedState hitting the big time and himself joining CNN as a commentator, Erick continues to take a no-compromises approach. I’ll start with today’s piece pointing out that the Senate “Republicans” didn’t need to cave on START in order to get promises of a temporary continuation of the Bush tax rates.
- Tim Phillips/Phil Kerpen – When one’s organization (Americans for Prosperity) is targeted by name by Teh Won multiple times, you know it’s effective.
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Interesting Post, Steve! I agree with Armey and Kibbe being on top and would place Phillips and Kerpen right behind or tied. AFP is another of my favorite groups.
The others are excellent, but where are Stacy Mott and Teri Christophe, co-founders of Smart Girl Politics? The grassroots organizations really took off this year, and brought women of all ages and backgrounds into the conservative movement. They should at least rank somewhere on the list.
Is Scott Brown a conservative? I’m glad he won and took the “Kennedy seat” but a conservative? humm. Ditto with Duncan.
Thanks!
Hope things are well with you.
Katy in NC