By Rick Moore

By now all those not living under a rock have heard that Dan Boren has chosen not to run for reelection in the Second Congressional District. The water cooler chatter has since turned to who is throwing their hat into the ring and can a Republican really win this seat again?

As of this writing state Representative George Faught has been making plans to seek the Republican nomination. Faught has been representing HD-14 since 2006, which covers most of Muskogee and a sliver of Cherokee county. He defeated trial-lawyer and former one-term state Representative Jeff Potts in 2006 with 54-percent of the vote to become the first Republican to hold this seat. In 2008 with John McCain at the top of the ticket, Faught won re-election over Muskogee County's emergency management director, Eugene Blankenship, with 56-percent of the vote. Blankenship then ran with the endorsements of the Oklahoma Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers and the Oklahoma Retired Teachers Association. In 2010, the Oklahoma Democrat Party did not challenge Faught. Rep. Faught is one vote short of having a cumulative score in the Top Conservatives list of the Oklahoma Conservative Index.

One of the most extraordinary characteristics when breaking down each of the Faught victories is that he managed impressive wins in a district gerrymandered with over 70-percent Democrat registration. This seat was once designed by Democrat leadership with the sole intention of remaining in the hands of Democrats. Barbara Staggs, formerly a teacher, was term-limited in 2006. She defeated John L. Monks who held the seat from 1968-1994 except for one term in 1988 when Jeff Potts upset Monks.

A possible Democrat challenger is Kenneth Corn of Howe. Corn was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1998 after winning a five-way primary with 46-percent of the vote. He was then elected to the State Senate in 2002 at the age of twenty-five making him the second youngest state senator in state's history behind Kevin Easley. Corn is a left-leaning senator with a cumulative score on the Conservative Index of 26-percent. He was term-limited when running unsuccessfully against Todd Lamb for Lt. Governor.

Another possibility is Sen. Jim Wilson of Tahlequah. Wilson was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2000 after winning a 4-way primary with 42-percent and then garnering 65-percent in the general. He transferred to the Senate after capturing 64-percent in the primary and facing no general opponent. Wilson will be term-limited in 2012. Many politicians in this position can be easily convinced to seek higher office, especially since Wilson challenged Boren in the 2010 primary. Wilson is a very liberal Democrat scoring a 14-percent cumulative rating on the Conservative Index.

Kalyn Free of Tulsa is also mentioned as a possible candidate since she challenged Boren in the 2004 primary election. She is considered a liberal Democrat boasting the support of Emily's List, the Sierra Club, and 21st Century Democrats during her congressional bid. Free is a member of the Choctaw Nation and formerly organized and led INDN's List, a group dedicated to the recruitment, election and support of Native Americans to political office. INDN stands for "Indigenous Democratic Network." She was the first woman in history elected as District Attorney for Pittsburg and Haskell counties; notably considered as part of Little Dixie in the Second District. Free also worked at the U.S. Department of Justice in the Indian Resources Section. Free was most recently photographed by the Cherokee Phoenix standing beside Bill John Baker at the Cherokee Nation Election Commission during his premature announcement as Principal Chief. It's no secret that Cherokee Principal Chief Chad Smith is a registered Republican.

The Second District envelops 26 counties with four state borders (Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas) with the population distributed 65-percent rural and 35-percent urban. The population centers are Miami, Claremore, Muskogee, Tahlequah, Okmulgee, McAlester, and Durant. It is literally the heart of the Oklahoma Democrat Party as only two Democrats in the House of Representatives are west of I-35. The Democrats hold a 63.8-percent majority in the district, but the voters went for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004; as well as voting 66-percent for John McCain in 2008. In addition, the Oklahoma Republican Party is making gains in Little Dixie. Rusty Fareley, who recently passed away after suffering a pulmonary aneurysm, defeated incumbent Democrat Dennis Bailey by 134 votes by spending only $70 for an advertisement in the local newspaper. Farley was not a political unknown. He actually served on the Haworth School Board for 18 years, providing Farley ample opportunity to develop name identification.

The McCarville Report insinuates that the National Republican Congressional Committee will be involved in this race. I agree it will be the hottest race on the ticket in 2012. However, if the Oklahoma Republican Party is to pull off this win in November it will require raising oodles of money and bringing in a massive amount of manpower for one of the biggest ground games since the primary surprise of Tom Coburn's Senate victory in 2004.

And, several players are beginning and have recently emerged who are more than capable of pulling off such a victory. State Chairman Matt Pinnell serves as Chairman of the State Chairmen at the Republican National Committee. This unique position places Pinnell in close proximity to RNC Chairman Reince Priebus. Moreover, Pinnell is a graduate of Oral Roberts University -- a breeding ground for young conservative political activists. Besides the fact that presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann graduated from the law school at Oral Roberts University in 1986, this university's political organizations have a reputation for putting boots on the ground in the political trenches. Faught's son, Tyler Faught, is a congressional staffer employed with Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. and will have several statewide political contacts as well as Washington, D.C. contacts to assist with building and stabilizing a political organization. Faught's son, Jamison Faught, serves as state committeeman of the Muskogee County Republican Party and has been writing a political blog, The Musings of a Muskogee Politico, since July 2008. Jamison also organized and serves as chairman of the Muskogee Tea Party. He, too, has built a database of political contacts over the years as a conservative activist in eastern Oklahoma.

Curt Price has re-emerged on the political scene to form a consulting business with David Byte. Price served as Coburn's chief field representative and campaign chairman. He was the architect of the 2004 Coburn Senate primary victory. Price remained the campaign chairman during the general election but the RNC and National Republican Senatorial Committee also stepped into the picture for the race against Brad Carson. He worked on Coburn's staff while in the U.S. House and during Coburn's intermission, Price was a staffer for Sen. Jim Inhofe. Price knows anyone and everyone in the Second District when it comes to politics. Byte is a serious computer wiz who loves to create political programs intended to crunch mountains of data. He currently serves as vice chairman of the Wagoner County Republican Party and has developed computer programs for the Oklahoma Republican Party. Both Price and Byte were the architects in Republican Brian Kuester winning the District Attorney race In District 27. This area encompasses Adair County, Cherokee County, Sequoyah County, and Wagoner County. Three of the four counties lie within the Second Congressional District and are beyond heavy Democrat registration. If there are votes to be mined, these two political wildcatters will seek them out and flip them to the "W" column.

One of the key components to a GOP victory in 2012 is to challenge each and every House and Senate seat in the Second District. If not, the Democrats have a history in this part of the state of simply using their war chests to assist other Democrats. The state Democrats will simply steer their lobbyist contributions to the Democrat Congressional candidate.

Should the Oklahoma Republican Party be concerned whether Democrats will run a clean campaign? Chairman of the Oklahoma Democrat Party, former state Representative Wallace Collins, was found by a jury of his Cleveland County peers of libeling his campaign opponent during his 1996 campaign. Collins acknowledged that he made the statements against his opponent in a campaign flier found by the jury to be false, yet Collins continued to distribute the fliers to the public. Byas v. Collins memories are still fresh in the minds of voters from the false television ads ran by Kenneth Corn against Todd Lamb in the 2010 Lt. Governor race. Remember what was said of Corn's attacks: "The advertisement's implications and innuendo are completely false" according to Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater. These types of deceitful, false, misleading attacks are what to expect from the Democrat congressional candidate.

How do you counter deceitful, false, misleading attacks? It takes lots of money and lots of volunteers. What will you do to help the Republican Party in 2011 & 2012?