Underdogs' Senate Bids Put Pressure on GOP

[question everything]

NOVEMBER 12, 2009

Underdogs' Senate Bids Put Pressure on GOP
Challengers Attack Rivals Recruited by National Republican Party, in Some Cases Pushing Candidates Rightward


By PETER WALLSTEN

WASHINGTON -- Underdogs trying to ride a wave of anti-establishment fervor are mounting challenges to the Republican Party's hand-picked Senate candidates in several states. A wave of conservatives are challenging front-running Republican candidates in important Senate races for next year. WSJ's Peter Wallsten says the GOP is feuding in at least five states over its preferred candidate. The trend suggests that conservative surges in a New York House race and a Senate primary in Florida were not isolated incidents and pose a dilemma for the GOP. Party leaders have stopped endorsing candidates, and in some cases establishment candidates have shifted to the right.

Challengers are seizing on the fact that their rivals were recruited by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the party organization that finds and vets candidates. They are presenting such links as evidence of coziness with party leaders unpopular with conservatives for supporting Wall Street bailouts and other spending programs. In Kentucky, Rand Paul, the son of 2008 presidential candidate Ron Paul, is ahead in fund raising. He is competing with a candidate backed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, also of Kentucky. The candidate, Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson, has now taken to criticizing some of Mr. McConnell's views. Two other NRSC recruits, former Rep. Rob Simmons of Connecticut and Rep. Mark Kirk of Illinois, have recently renounced past support for cap-and-trade legislation aimed at addressing climate change, as they reintroduce themselves as fiscal conservatives.

Mr. Simmons, whose challengers include the wealthy former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment, Linda McMahon, now campaigns with a tea bag in his pocket as he seeks allies in the state's "tea party" movement. Mr. Kirk, whose opponents include businessman Patrick Hughes, this month tried unsuccessfully to solicit positive comments about his candidacy from 2008 vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who is popular among conservatives. In California, where Republicans want to take on Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, conservative Chuck DeVore has attacked former Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO Carly Fiorina as the NRSC-backed candidate.

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Whether these upstart campaigns can succeed is unclear. In some states, such as Ohio and Colorado, challengers who have declared their candidacies face well-funded front-runners who are popular with the party base. The Club for Growth, a pro-business group that runs ads backing fiscal conservatives in Republican primaries, has jumped into the Florida contest to endorse former state legislator Marco Rubio, who is running against NRSC-endorsed Gov. Charlie Crist.

The challengers have created a dilemma for Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, who is running the NRSC's election efforts. He is defending open seats vacated by retiring senators in the four perennial battlegrounds of Ohio, Missouri, Florida and New Hampshire. He began recruiting when Democrats were on the rise nationally. Then, GOP leaders wanted candidates who could appeal to independents and Democratic voters. In the wake of the New York congressional race, in which a conservative candidate drove the official Republican from the contest, Mr. Cornyn said the NRSC wouldn't spend money in any primary. Aides say any additional endorsements are unlikely.

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125798895092944509.html (subscription)

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A8

[DebbieCDC]

1. Let them go picnic-ing on each other

[question everything]

2. Right. And we can watch (nt)

[pscot]

3. Let's hope the GOP's future is like life in the middle ages

nasty, brutish and short.