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We don't agree. They don't WANT her to win, even more than they want a majority in the Senate, the reason for their reaction when she did win, AND their lack of support thereafter. It wouldn't be surprising if behind the scenes they're actively campaigning against her.

Nonsense. Your sounding kind of paranoid here.

The establishment of any political party wants to win. They naturally tend to gravitate to the known quantity and the people they are most comfortable with, but they will drop allegiances in a heartbeat if they think they can win with another candidate. The Florida establishment was entirely behind Crist too. Rubio proved to be an excellent candidate, it became absolutely clear he was going to win the primary, Crist dropped out, and the entire GOP establishment is now backing Rubio.

Had O'Donnell proved over a long primary campaign to be an excellent campaigner, showed she could survive the scrutiny of the various skeletons that were falling out of her closet (ie, become fully vetted), demonstrated that there was reason to believe she could win statewide, etc - the establishment would have come on board.

As is, Republicans basically have to say they'll support her, but it's kinda hard to get too fired up for a candidate you know simply can't win. I think the disconnect here is that you see Christine as someone who could win a statewide race in Delaware, and I (and most political analysts) just don't. We see her as a sure loser in a state like Delaware. I think it's become pretty clear considering she is down 10-20 in the polls this late in the game that I will be proven quite correct.

Given the establishment reaction to Christine's victory, and their criticism of her for several days thereafter, and their continued lack of support for her campaign, my opinion is based on fact.

If they wanted her to win, they would have reacted precisely as they would have, had Castle won. With congratulations and financial and verbal support.

Further, Castle's vicious attacks on her in the campaign, coupled with the negative reaction from the establishment when Christine won, made her a far more vulnerable prey to attacks from the left in the general election. If Christine loses the establishment will say, "See we told you she couldn't win," when by failing to provide the necessary support and engaging in harmful attacks against her they helped her to lose.

I've witnessed the bias against good conservatives endorsed by the party who are victorious in the primary, from supporters of conservatives who were not party endorsed and lost in the primary. And the bias of the establishment when their candidate loses to another candidate not endorsed by the Republican party. Neither wants the victorious candidate to win. To claim otherwise is intellectually dishonest.

BTW, let's not forget about the hypocrisy of leftist establishment Republican Murkowski who just HAD to wage a write in campaign, when she lost to Joe Miller.

Both groups are impediments to Republican victories.