Mitch is a pinhead. He (and the Senate GOP “leadership”) supported Specter in his reelection, and refused to support Toomey. McConnell has also been opposing the somewhat more conservative Bunning. Yeah, that’s the new Republican brand we need....
Mitch wasn’t in charge in 2004. Bill Frist was head of the Republicans in the Senate and George Allen was in charge of the NRSC.
He was the whip from 2002 to 2006 (and he was fairly effective) but Frist didn’t provide any leadership. Allen made the decision to support Specter over Toomey in the primary.
Interesting how the GOP wants rid of a sitting conservative Senator, but someone like Chafee or Specter gets all the party $ they can come up with to oppose a more conservative primary challenger, and then they are only too happy to go into debt to come up with more to support the losers in a fight to the death in the general.