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Uncivil War: Conservatives to challenge a dozen GOP candidates
Politico ^ | 03 Nov 2009 | CHARLES MAHTESIAN & ALEX ISENSTADT

Posted on 11/03/2009 12:48:58 PM PST by BGHater

In what could be a nightmare scenario for Republican Party officials, conservative activists are gearing up to challenge leading GOP candidates in more than a dozen key House and Senate races in 2010.

Conservatives and tea party activists had already set their sights on some of the GOP’s top Senate recruits — a list that includes Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida, former Rep. Rob Simmons in Connecticut and Rep. Mark Kirk in Illinois, among others.

But their success in Tuesday’s upstate New York special election, where grass-roots efforts pushed GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava to drop out of the race and helped Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman surge into the lead on the eve of Election Day, has generated more money and enthusiasm than organizers ever imagined.

Activists predict a wave that could roll from California to Kentucky to New Hampshire and that could leave even some GOP incumbents — Utah Sen. Bob Bennett is one — facing unexpectedly fierce challenges from their right flank.

“I would say it’s the tip of the spear,” said Dick Armey, the former GOP House majority leader who now serves as chairman of FreedomWorks, an organization that has been closely aligned with the tea party movement. “We are the biggest source of energy in American politics today.”

“What you’re going to see,” said Armey, “is moderates and conservatives across the country in primaries.”

These high-stakes primaries, pitting the activist wing of the party against the establishment wing, stand to have a profound impact on the 2010 election landscape since they will create significant problems for moderate candidates recruited by the national party precisely because they appear well-suited to win in places that are not easily — or even plausibly — won by conservative candidates.

The tensions between the two visions threaten to limit the party’s gains in an election year that is shaping up in its favor.

Party strategists worry that well-funded, well-organized challenges from the right could force Republicans to exhaust precious resources on messy primary fights — or force moderate candidates to adopt more strident positions early on that could haunt them during the final months of the campaign.

“For me, what this says is, we need to take a deep breath and decide whether [moderates and conservatives] work together or not,” said Tom Davis, the former chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. “And if we don’t, it can get very, very ugly.”

Activists contend that the only way back to majority status is to embrace the conservative principles that the party jettisoned during the past decades once it became too enamored of power. To them, the issue is less about ideological purity than about the compromises they see the party’s Washington establishment making and what they contend is a lack of support for conservative candidates who are deemed unelectable by GOP solons.

“New York 23, on some scale, is the first battle of a larger internal Republican debate over how to define the party,” said former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, a conservative who is challenging Crist for the Senate nomination. “They want us to vote for their candidates, but they don’t want us to run for office.”

Rubio’s race is one that many on the right point to as the next New York 23, a contest where conservatives and tea party activists are in open revolt about Crist and the national party’s decision to endorse him despite his embrace — literally — of President Barack Obama and his stimulus package during a Florida visit in February.

Rubio has won nearly a dozen county GOP straw polls across the state and is rapidly becoming a darling of the tea party movement.

Everett Wilkinson, an organizer for the Florida Tea Party Patriots, said his group plans to take part in get-out-the-vote activities and other efforts to deny Crist the GOP nomination, despite the fact that Crist leads both Rubio and Rep. Kendrick Meek, the likely Democratic nominee, by a comfortable margin.

To Wilkinson, he’d rather burn the house down if it means saving it.

“We would lose if Charlie Crist got elected or if another person who doesn’t support our policies got elected,” he said. “Our members are actively going to get out there and create awareness of the governor’s actions.”

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), a leading conservative who has endorsed Rubio, said he viewed the Florida Senate race as distinct from the New York special election. But he agreed with Rubio’s contention that the national party needed to broaden its outlook on candidates.

“I’m not saying our party made a mistake, because there’s a debate within the party over what we should be,” he said. “If we just start looking at who can win — sometimes we might miss a gem in the rough in effect. And I said from the beginning, that’s what I think Rubio is.”

Florida turns out to be one of many states where Senate candidates favored — in one way or another — by the National Republican Senatorial Committee are facing serious pushback from the grass roots.

In almost every situation, the lay of the land is the same. Whether it’s California, Illinois, Connecticut, New Hampshire or Kentucky, the NRSC has found a candidate who appears to be an exceptionally strong general election prospect — either well-known, well-financed or ideologically well-suited to the state’s politics — who is nevertheless meeting with tough resistance at the grass-roots level from activists who believe the conservative cause would be better served over the long term, even if it means the party nominee loses in the short term.

Even in Illinois, where polls shows Kirk would be highly competitive as a general election candidate in a state in which Republicans have been crushed in recent elections, the prospect of picking up the president’s former Senate seat isn’t enough to win over many activists.

“We’re going to work hard as hell to make sure Mark Kirk doesn’t win,” said Evert Evertsen, an Illinois tea party organizer. “Mark Kirk is about as liberal as Arlen Specter was.”

GOP House and Senate incumbents are fair game, too.

In Utah, where Bennett has won reelection by landslide margins since first winning the seat in 1992, disgruntled conservatives are looking to take him down in next year’s state party convention after his Wall Street bailout vote last fall and several other high-profile votes in which he broke with the right.

In the House, Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) is among a handful of GOP veterans facing primary challenges of varying competitiveness for their departures from conservative orthodoxy.

“It’s kind of like investors in a company saying they’re not going to tolerate it anymore. And that’s what we’re seeing here,” said Eric Odom, executive director of the American Liberty Alliance, a libertarian-oriented group. “We’re already gearing up. This is just the beginning.”


TOPICS: Front Page News; Government; Politics/Elections; US: Connecticut; US: Florida; US: Illinois; US: New York; US: South Carolina
KEYWORDS: 111th; angrymob; bobinglis; charliecrist; conservative; election; gop; markkirk; ny23; republican; rinopurge; rinos; robsimmons; teaparty; teapartyrebellion
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To: BGHater

I see New Hampshire mentioned here. I hope that no one is calling Kelly Ayotte a RINO or liberal, because she is not. She’s a strong 2nd Amendment conservative.

If she has National Republican Senatorial Committee approval, it is well deserved (and not in a RINO way).


21 posted on 11/03/2009 12:58:45 PM PST by GOPsterinMA ("Henceforth, you shall be known as...'Nobel Obama'".)
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To: Uncle Miltie

YES...what YOU said!


22 posted on 11/03/2009 12:58:52 PM PST by goodnesswins (Tagline, oh tagline, whereart thou?)
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To: BGHater
“For me, what this says is, we need to take a deep breath and decide whether [moderates and conservatives] work together or not,” said Tom Davis, the former chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. “And if we don’t, it can get very, very ugly.”

Conservative took a deep breath a long time ago Tom and realized the OP(formerly the GOP)has no intention of supporting the Conservative cause. The only alternative is a party based on strong Conservative principles. The ugliness is about to end.
23 posted on 11/03/2009 12:59:21 PM PST by Man50D (Fair Tax, you earn it, you keep it! www.FairTaxNation.com)
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To: fieldmarshaldj

LOLOL!!! I liked that movie. Kinda whiny,but not bad.


24 posted on 11/03/2009 12:59:33 PM PST by gimme1ibertee ("In a time of universal deceit,telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act"-G. Orwell)
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To: BGHater

if the conservative is unelectable,and the conservative won’t vote for the rino then the rino too is unelectable.


25 posted on 11/03/2009 1:00:12 PM PST by wiggen (Never in the history of our great country have the people had less representation than they do today)
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To: BGHater

Some thoughts:

1. Isn’t it illegal to poach Rinos?

2. If this keeps up, will Rinos be put on the endangered species list?


26 posted on 11/03/2009 1:00:26 PM PST by almcbean
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To: gimme1ibertee
Mess with the conservative bull,you'll get the horns. GOP, you better be taking notes. WE ARE DONE.... SICK... TIRED of your waffling,RINOism and pussification of this country. You're no different that the architects of destruction on the other side. The conservatives of this country have changed the meaning of the moniker GOP....It now stands for GROW ONE PAIR. Surely you can manage that between the lot of you,or you can just get the hell out of the way and let the girls take over!!

It is very clear you are running away from - or at least threatening to run away from - our dear spineless, leaderless, meallymouthed, rinos.

Now....pray tell....exactly WHERE are you running to? A Conservative Third Party? Wonderful!!!

OH....wait! THERE IS NO CONSERVATIVE THIRD PARTY!!!!!

27 posted on 11/03/2009 1:00:53 PM PST by Logic n' Reason (If you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got.)
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To: BGHater

It’s funny that I don’t remember these stories when the Dems tried to torpedo Joe Lieberman....

hh


28 posted on 11/03/2009 1:01:23 PM PST by hoosier hick (Note to RINOs: We need a choice, not an echo....Barry Goldwater)
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To: BGHater

The GOP has told us to not leave and form a third party, stay in the GOP and work to have your beliefs part of the mainstream “big tent”.

Just doing as they asked. Why would that present a problem to the leadership they say they support our views.


29 posted on 11/03/2009 1:02:00 PM PST by edcoil (If I had 1 cent for every dollar the government saved, Bill Gates and I would be friends.)
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To: kingattax

lol. Aren’t we getting one tonight if Christie wins? I mean he is pretty dang close. I love for conservatives to win but Christie is not what we had in mind. How do you suppose you can say a statement such as NO RINOS when we don’t have the principles to live by that. I am very serious about this...it is almost like we are all talk or that we only say this when it is convenient. I am sure I will be blasted for this but if you think deep down, you know I am right.


30 posted on 11/03/2009 1:02:10 PM PST by napscoordinator
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To: BGHater

Maybe a “nightmare” for some Republican “officials”.....but a dream come true for the majority of Republicans.


31 posted on 11/03/2009 1:02:33 PM PST by ohioWfan (Proud Mom of a Bronze Star recipient!)
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To: BGHater
Dems feign worry that the Republicans are failing their duty to protect democracy by shirking a dedication to a Big Tent Party..

I on the other hand worry that Dems are failing our heritage and Constitution by being the Big Teat Party.

32 posted on 11/03/2009 1:02:41 PM PST by WilliamofCarmichael (If modern America's Man on Horseback is out there, Get on the damn horse already!)
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To: kingattax
OK...you've told all of us what and who you're against! You've told all of us what you are running from - and I (and most likely we) agree with you!

Now...what are you FOR?? We know what you're running from...what are you running toward?

33 posted on 11/03/2009 1:03:05 PM PST by Logic n' Reason (If you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got.)
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To: BGHater

If the RNC had half a brain they would NEVER let Tom Davis anywhere near the candidate vetting process!
His RINO record is worthy of a “one way” safari to another
dimension.


34 posted on 11/03/2009 1:03:31 PM PST by Yorktownpatriot
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To: gimme1ibertee

Actually, that pic isn’t of Paul Gleason as Principal Richard “Dick” Vernon in “The Breakfast Club”, but when he reprised the role (and that scene in the library) in the spoof film “Not Another Teen Movie” 16 years later.


35 posted on 11/03/2009 1:04:29 PM PST by fieldmarshaldj (~"This is what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps !"~~)
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To: BGHater
...a nightmare scenario for Republican Party officials ...

Strictly self-inflicted - ignore us at your peril or listen to 'we the people' and there will be no 'nightmare scenario'.

36 posted on 11/03/2009 1:05:27 PM PST by MissMagnolia (Obad. 1:15: As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head.)
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To: kingattax

Here is a table that list all House Republicans and their votes on 4 key issues.

1. TARP Bill

2. Auto Bail-out

3. Cap & Trade

4. FDA Food Takeover

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2375957/posts

See post #6

ANY Congressman who voted for Cap & Trade MUST be REMOVED. They are either Traitors or they are simply too stupid to serve in Congress.


37 posted on 11/03/2009 1:05:27 PM PST by Texas Fossil (Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.)
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To: BGHater

yeah, and the Democrats are going to get a string of stiff primary challenges from DUmmy activists on their left flank, so this will all shake out as it should....with moderates ending up like so much roadkill on the yellow line.


38 posted on 11/03/2009 1:05:59 PM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: BGHater

In my district the 06 democrat loser is challenging the 06 GOP winner for the GOP nomination.


39 posted on 11/03/2009 1:08:52 PM PST by cripplecreek (Seniors, the new shovel ready project under socialized medicine.)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Politicians (and leftists) don't like voters to have a clear choice. And frankly, some voters don't LIKE having to make a clear choice. They like the mushy "can't we all get along" politician who tries not to offend anyone by having a clear discernable ideology.

40 posted on 11/03/2009 1:11:35 PM PST by MrB (The difference between a humanist and a Satanist is that the latter knows who he's working for.)
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