Massacre in Oklahoma's 4th District: Mighty Paul Bondar Has Struck Out

 The republican primary election in the Oklahoma 4th Congressional District was over in a hurry last night. In fact it took the AP only 33 minutes after the polls closed to call it for incumbent, Tom Cole. The sudden ending stunned more than a few local talking heads as it came on the heels of what is being called the most expensive primary campaign in the history of Oklahoma politics.

Cole's chief primary challenger, the mad Texan, Paul Bondar had, depending on who you ask, spent between $4.9 million to $5 million of his own money. To counter Bondar's TV ad blitz, Cole, was forced to spend $3 million out of his war chest, plus an unknown amount paid for by a couple of Political Action Committees. In retrospect the Congressman didn't need to drop that kind of coin, but for the last couple of months, Bondars constant presence on local TV sure made it seem necessary. 

In Bondar's initial round of TV ads he went all Marjorie Taylor Greene on Cole. He even went as far as to pose with an assault style weapon in front of one of the few sections of Trump's border wall that was actually built. He also claimed that he, Paul Bondar would cease all funding to Ukraine in order to spend the money on border security. He told us, Tom Cole had actually worked with the Biden Administration in this nefarious, yea, traitorous plot to destroy America. Indeed, to compromise with democrats in any way, shape, or form was tantamount to selling out your party, Donald J. Trump, and the nation itself. His later ads backed off this tactic to a degree, to focus more on Cole's sin of longevity in the House. It is time, he said, over and over again, to put someone in Congress who will fight for the Constitution and Oklahoma, values rather than the values found in Washington D.C.

Brother Bondar had a couple of problems though. First, he had never lived in Oklahoma--not just the district he was running to represent, but the entire fucking state. He claimed he had rented a property somewhere outside of Ada and planned on building a, "forever,' home on a lot near Durant. However as late as March this year he was still casting ballots in, Texas, where he and his family lived. Cole's ads even pointed out Bondar's personal vehicle still bore Texas license tags and he gleefully showed photos Bondar's Dallas suburban mansion, not to mention photos of the vast empty space the, "forever," home was supposed to be built on.

The Cole campaign rarely mentioned his record, only that, unlike Bondar, he had actually received an endorsement from Trump. It focused almost entirely on this rich Texas dude who was trying to buy an Oklahoma Congressional seat. 

And while Bondar ran a Marjorie Taylor Greene style campaign, he had no answer to that endorsement--the only real endorsement he picked up was from Ryan Walters, a fully functioning White Christian Nationalist heretic--or the fact Tom Cole is such a bona fide right-wing politico, he actually voted to overturn the results of the 2020 election. 

There were five republican candidates in the 4th district primary. Nick Hawkins won 2% of the vote, Rick Harris won 3.5%, and Andrew Hayes won 4.1%. After spending nearly $5 million dollars Paul Bondar received, 25.8% and Tom Cole won with 64.6%. Bondar's raw vote count was, 16,120. And while my math is always questionable at best, my calculations show Mr. Bondar spent about $305 on each and every one of those ballots cast for him. As one political wag put it today, Kevin Costner spent a ton of his own money on his latest movie, but at least he got a movie out of it. Left unsaid was Paul Bondar didn't get squat for his investment. 

Ultimately, this whole tedious episode reminded me of something I saw back in the salad days. For a while we lived outside of Boston, MA. One year Ted Kennedy was running for re-election to the Senate. His republican opponent was a guy named, Joe Barnes. In the couple of months leading up to election day, Joe Barnes was all over the local TV outlets. His campaign was so well financed you couldn't ride into Boston, or out of it without seeing billboards urging you to vote for Joe Barnes. In the suburbs, Joe Barnes lawn signs seemed everywhere. The Kennedy campaign didn't even seem to exist. No signs, no ads, nothing. Hell, Joe Barnes had even picked up an endorsement by the Boston Herald (A Rupert Murdoch publication.)

It was all so one sided I remember being worried Kennedy might actually blow the election. The day before we voted I opened my copy of the Boston Globe. On page three there was a full-page ad in huge black print which read simply, "Kennedy for Senate." That was, as near as I could tell, the total extent of Ted Kennedy's pitch for re-election.

On Wednesday morning when I woke up, I found Senator Kennedy had won with over 70% of the vote. I never heard the name Joe Barnes mentioned anywhere again.

After what happened last night I wouldn't count on seeing any construction crews building that, "forever," home near Durant, or any other location in the state. Yes, to paraphrase a line, Mighty Paul Bondar--despite his bankroll--has struck out.

6-19-24