Posted on 11/07/2010 6:55:55 AM PST by upchuck
Tea party-backed candidates helped and hindered Republicans, injecting enthusiasm into campaigns but losing Senate seats held by Democrats in Delaware, Colorado and Nevada that the GOP once had big hopes of capturing.
Republican leaders and strategists are muttering that the same tea party activists who elevated Speaker-to-be John Boehner and the party to power in the House simultaneously hobbled the GOP's outside shot of running the Senate. Tea partiers largely spurned establishment candidates in the GOP primaries and helped nominate Christine O'Donnell in Delaware, Sharron Angle in Nevada and Ken Buck in Colorado.
All three lost on Tuesday.
"You let the voters decide" the nominees, Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele said Friday. "It's a risk. Voting is a risk."
Republicans won Senate races in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. That put them within three seats of a 50-50 split. In the case, Vice President Joe Biden would have broken the tie and allowed Democrats to retain their majority.
If they could have managed a split, however, Republicans would have pushed hard to switch some lawmakers, with the likely target Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman. He's an independent who votes with the Democrats but strongly supported Republican John McCain's 2008 presidential bid. Others considered Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota a possibility.
It didn't help that the Republican machine, such that it is, virtually deserted these three candidates. For shame! Maybe they learned a lesson?
*Howling with laughter*
Yeah right- and the establishment RINOs would have done better?
The headline could have just as well been written, “Republicans desert the three tea party backed candidates that could have given them 50 in the Senate.”
Word. Of course; NO mention of the TP candidates that WON; no mention of the TP candidates that swept the rats out in State Legislatures. We aren't buying the establishment BS anymore...
I haven’t looked up the numbers, but I heard someone on TV say that 87% of tea party backed candidates won...that seems to be a higher rate than normal GOP candidates...but go ahead and blame the tea party if that’s all the GOP has...at least if they’re begging to become the modern day Whig party.
So what about Rossi and Fiorina and DioGuardi?
Losses by tea party-backed candidates...
Our biggest loss was Juan McCain.
What about losses by non-teaparty candidates in Connecticut, California and Washington. Strange that they had no effect on not winning the Senate.
>>>>The headline could have just as well been written, “Republicans desert the three tea party backed candidates that could have given them 50 in the Senate.”<<<
Spot-on. The ESTABLISHMENT REPUBLICAN ELITISTS are the ones that screwed the pooch.
Even before the election, I wanted the Dems to keep control of the Senate, although I would have preferred 48 or 49 Rep seats. Life gets much more complicated for the Dems in 2012 when they still have to answer for at least part of Congress - and defend 23 seats (to 10 for the Reps). If the House simply passes popular stuff and then watches it die in the Senate - then the Senate is seen as the problem, and Obama is cut out of the game completely, and becomes irrelevant, and winning re-election becomes that much harder - while the Senate may have to deal with a blowout.
I’m perfectly happy with these results - 18 months ago, we were looking at actually losing more seats in the Senate (due to having way more at stake), and maybe netting a handful of seats in the House - and then only if we ‘cooperated’ with Obama. LOL.
I strongly disagree with the notion that the Tea Party is the reason that the conservatives did not gain more seats in the Senate. I have heard the Tea Party is being downplayed by the pundits downplayed because they only won 32% of the races. 32% of the seats is huge considering that the term “Tea Party” was unheard of less than 2 years ago.
As far as I’m concerned. Lott, Rove and whoever else chimes against the Tea Party ought to be excommunicated from the Republican Party.
The establishment country club RINOs are revolting! Yet another plant story from the Republican establishment.
Rewritten Headline:
Tea Party Enthusiasm Gains GOP House
This is about freedom against slavery. The government must be constrained by the constitution. It was written to guarantee individual freedom. Politicians who do not believe this are the enemy. It matters not whether there is a D, an I, or an R beside their name.
We are not interested in merely changing slave masters!
FReepers should continue to starve the establishment GOP organizations (RNC, NRSC, NRCC, etc.) and give directly to candidates that represent our conservative ideals.
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