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Hamilton County: Wamp says GOP outmatched on Web

By: Matt Wilson
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Zack Wamp

U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., said Monday that Republicans deserved their big gains in Tennessee last week, but he noted that the national GOP needs to step up its online campaign game.

“We got beat on the Internet 100 to 1,” he told the Hamilton County Pachyderm Club, a local GOP group. “Our party is caught in a time warp.”

Wade Munday, a spokesman for the Tennessee Democratic Party, said he agreed that Republicans are caught in a time warp, but he said it extends beyond media and into ideology.

Rep. Wamp said he believes a majority of Americans still agree with Republican ideals.

Republicans in last week’s election took control of both houses of the Tennessee General Assembly for the first time since Reconstruction. But nationally, the GOP lost seats in the U.S. House and Senate as well as the presidency.

“(Democrats) are going to parlay this presidency into growing their party,” Rep. Wamp said.

He told the Pachyderm group that Republicans ought to use every medium available, including the Internet and talk radio, to get across their message.

Rep. Wamp also noted that GOP victories in Tennessee had nothing to do with race. The state went for U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., rather than U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in the presidential contest.

Rather, he said the Republicans made gains in Tennessee because of a common theme of funding education first before making other financial decisions.

Mr. Munday asked why race even would be brought up.

“I don’t think it was any more a factor in Tennessee than elsewhere,” he said.

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