Clarence Page: Will Tea Party Candidates Trip Up GOP Ascendancy?
Will tea party candidates trip up GOP ascendancy?
By Clarence Page
Republicans can do very well in November if their fellow Republicans don't get in the way.
Republicans are expected to make big gains in the midterm elections, winning the House and possibly the Senate. Yet in some critical Senate races, party faithful are finding themselves battling with tea party zealots in a war for the Grand Old Party's soul.
Take, for example, Tuesday's surprising upset in Delaware by tea party-endorsed perennial candidate Christine O'Donnell. She defeated Mike Castle, the blue-ribbon candidate endorsed by GOP leaders. Having won statewide offices a dozen times, Castle was viewed as unbeatable by leaders of both parties — until he got beat.
And by whom? A perennial loser of an ultra-conservative in a liberal-leaning state. Yet her long-shot bid was saved by 11th-hour endorsements from Sarah Palin and Sen. Jim DeMint, a South Carolina Republican who, if possible, would love to organize some sort of a tea party caucus in the Senate.
That's his right, but other prominent Republicans are livid that O'Donnell's long-shot chances against very popular Democrat Chris Coons puts their goal of a Republican Senate majority farther out of reach, according to major independent analysts.
Even loyal GOP political consultant-turned-Fox News analyst Karl Rove attacked O'Donnell's “checkered background” on election night, saying she does not “evince the characteristics of rectitude and truthfulness.” He was referring to conflicting accounts she has given of her income, her college education and her finances, among other matters.
“I mean, there are just a lot of nutty things she's been saying that just simply don't add up.”
Of course, after other conservatives like Rush Limbaugh, who's become the right's chief thought policeman, chastised Rove, he backpedaled a bit, pointing out that he's endorsed O'Donnell despite her need to clear up what he saw as serious questions.
And other leading Republicans also circled their wagons around O'Donnell, especially those who are considering a presidential run in 2012.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney led the pack, offering a maximum campaign contribution of $5,000 and a warm endorsement the day after O'Donnell's win.
And the tea party seems to be helping GOP Senate candidates more than it is hurting them. Nevada's Sharron Angle, for example, has been a running joke with her edgy appeal to “Second Amendment solutions” and other ominous quotes. Yet she's been running neck-and-neck against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in a state where for many voters the Second Amendment is their favorite part of the Constitution.
Kentucky's Rand Paul, who got off to a shaky start with his reservations about the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and Ohio's Rob Portman and Florida's Marco Rubio have pulled into the lead. Illinois Republican Mark Kirk has been slightly ahead, and Linda McMahon is almost tied in Connecticut.
With Palin's endorsement to thank, O'Donnell's victory vaults the former Alaska governor up another few rungs in her climb as a major political force. Of her 43 endorsements in the midterms, according to The Washington Post's Palin Endorsement Tracker, 25 have won and 11 have lost. She will not be ignored.
It's also a win for DeMint, who has raised money for other insurgent conservative candidates, even when party leaders opposed them as too extreme to be electable. If Republicans manage to take the Senate, watch DeMint rise as a major power player.
If so, that rumbling sound you hear is the Republican field taking a giant step to the right.
But that's not all bad news for Democrats in the long run. Backlashes go both ways.
A similar Republican takeover in 1994, for example, led to excessive hubris by Speaker Newt Gingrich's “revolution” and excesses that helped President Bill Clinton win re-election handily in 1996. That's a best-case long-term scenario for Democrats. They know how easy it is to beat incumbents in a time of economic trouble — and how hard it is to govern afterward.
Clarence Page is a columnist with the Chicago Tribune. His email address is cpage@tribune.com.
By Clarence Page
Republicans can do very well in November if their fellow Republicans don't get in the way.
Republicans are expected to make big gains in the midterm elections, winning the House and possibly the Senate. Yet in some critical Senate races, party faithful are finding themselves battling with tea party zealots in a war for the Grand Old Party's soul.
Take, for example, Tuesday's surprising upset in Delaware by tea party-endorsed perennial candidate Christine O'Donnell. She defeated Mike Castle, the blue-ribbon candidate endorsed by GOP leaders. Having won statewide offices a dozen times, Castle was viewed as unbeatable by leaders of both parties — until he got beat.
And by whom? A perennial loser of an ultra-conservative in a liberal-leaning state. Yet her long-shot bid was saved by 11th-hour endorsements from Sarah Palin and Sen. Jim DeMint, a South Carolina Republican who, if possible, would love to organize some sort of a tea party caucus in the Senate.
That's his right, but other prominent Republicans are livid that O'Donnell's long-shot chances against very popular Democrat Chris Coons puts their goal of a Republican Senate majority farther out of reach, according to major independent analysts.
Even loyal GOP political consultant-turned-Fox News analyst Karl Rove attacked O'Donnell's “checkered background” on election night, saying she does not “evince the characteristics of rectitude and truthfulness.” He was referring to conflicting accounts she has given of her income, her college education and her finances, among other matters.
“I mean, there are just a lot of nutty things she's been saying that just simply don't add up.”
Of course, after other conservatives like Rush Limbaugh, who's become the right's chief thought policeman, chastised Rove, he backpedaled a bit, pointing out that he's endorsed O'Donnell despite her need to clear up what he saw as serious questions.
And other leading Republicans also circled their wagons around O'Donnell, especially those who are considering a presidential run in 2012.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney led the pack, offering a maximum campaign contribution of $5,000 and a warm endorsement the day after O'Donnell's win.
And the tea party seems to be helping GOP Senate candidates more than it is hurting them. Nevada's Sharron Angle, for example, has been a running joke with her edgy appeal to “Second Amendment solutions” and other ominous quotes. Yet she's been running neck-and-neck against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in a state where for many voters the Second Amendment is their favorite part of the Constitution.
Kentucky's Rand Paul, who got off to a shaky start with his reservations about the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and Ohio's Rob Portman and Florida's Marco Rubio have pulled into the lead. Illinois Republican Mark Kirk has been slightly ahead, and Linda McMahon is almost tied in Connecticut.
With Palin's endorsement to thank, O'Donnell's victory vaults the former Alaska governor up another few rungs in her climb as a major political force. Of her 43 endorsements in the midterms, according to The Washington Post's Palin Endorsement Tracker, 25 have won and 11 have lost. She will not be ignored.
It's also a win for DeMint, who has raised money for other insurgent conservative candidates, even when party leaders opposed them as too extreme to be electable. If Republicans manage to take the Senate, watch DeMint rise as a major power player.
If so, that rumbling sound you hear is the Republican field taking a giant step to the right.
But that's not all bad news for Democrats in the long run. Backlashes go both ways.
A similar Republican takeover in 1994, for example, led to excessive hubris by Speaker Newt Gingrich's “revolution” and excesses that helped President Bill Clinton win re-election handily in 1996. That's a best-case long-term scenario for Democrats. They know how easy it is to beat incumbents in a time of economic trouble — and how hard it is to govern afterward.
Clarence Page is a columnist with the Chicago Tribune. His email address is cpage@tribune.com.
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