Republicans anticipate election victories at annual fund-raising dinner

ASHEVILLE - Republicans in North Carolina and elsewhere are poised to pick up representatives in Congress during the 2002 election, the publisher of Mullings.com told area Republicans Saturday night.

Rich Galen, the keynote speaker at the annual Lincoln Day Dinner, said that redistricting to be done as a result of the 2000 census likely means gains for Republicans, both in state general assemblies and in Congress.

The momentum that Republicans built with significant victories in 1994, when the power tipped the Grand Old Party's way, will continue with the work of the party faithful, some 200 of which attended Saturday's event, Galen said.

Galen is publisher of Mullings.com, an e-mail and Web page political column. He served as press secretary to Dan Quayle, when the former vice president was a House representative and senator. He was also press secretary to Newt Gingrich, when Gingrich was House Republican Whip. Galen is a frequent guest on televised news programs.

The Republican tide saw its first waves in 1990, the year U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor, R-Brevard, and several other Republicans were elected, Galen said.

"They grabbed the Congress of the United States literally by the throat," he said. "It was people like Charles and the others that made the (more established congressional) Republican bulls sit up and take notice."

Taylor, who introduced Galen, had already spoken of what he said were Republican victories that have moved Americans forward.

Republican policies led to the federal surplus, he said, adding that Republicans reformed federal welfare policy and watched former President Clinton take the credit, as he did for the surplus. Taylor also credited Republicans with reducing the national debt, and predicted that next week they'll lead Congress to one of the biggest tax cuts in history.

Galen noted a comment by Taylor, that Taylor's opponent during the November election, Sam Neill, spent $2.7 million on an unsuccessful campaign.

"It doesn't matter how much money the other guy's got. It matters how much heart a person like Charles has," Galen said.

Galen exhorted the audience to stay active in Republican politics.

"The business of being in politics, of being at dinners like this, is of immense importance," he said. For one thing, it's an American's civic duty to be involved in the democratic process, he said. Next most important is running for office, or serving if named to appointed positions.

"Right on the heels of that is to attend organizations like this to apply your talents," Galen said. "People in Buncombe County doing the things they do is why we have a Republican president.