It’s not nearly as preposterous a claim as you might think. The lengths to which Establishment RINOs will go to stop Conservative outsiders, colluding with Democrats, is already well-established. I absolutely believe the agreement took place. Castle gets a ringer for the election, serves for a short period, then “graciously” resigns to allow Plugs Junior to slip into the seat.
It was simply “too much” to have Junior jump in to the race for daddy’s seat at that particular point. It was gross nepotism. By allowing Castle to win, and then allowing the Governor to appoint Junior at a later date allowing him to run as an incumbent, it was more advantageous. Of course, O’Donnell destroyed the plan and both the Dems and the GOP Establishment had to scramble to anoint the “ringer” Coons, lest this outsider woman actually win. That couldn’t be allowed.
That similarly happened in IL in 1996, when the Combine selected Lt. Gov. Bob Kustra to be their designated Senator with Dick Durbin as the Democrat ringer (to be rewarded for his service at a later date). Al Salvi upended that arrangement, and the Combine anointed Durbin. Ditto again in 1998 when Lolita Didrickson was the pre-selected Combiner challenger and designated loser to Moseley-Braun and Fitzgerald upended that arrangement... only that Fitz had enough $$ resources to overcome the Combine.
So, yes, this corruption DOES go on. Even in tiny Delaware.
I fail to see the appeal for Castle of being a Senator for 5 minutes or how Castle’s resignation could have been enforced, other than by offering a meaningful cabinet position.
Why not let some Biden family (d)og like then incumbent Kaufman be a stand in for Beau?
Fact is Beau would have run if he wasn’t scared of a competitive election with Castle, not enough people give a damn about nepotism, Princess Lisa is still in office.
Personally, I think the Castle runs/Beau Biden didn’t scenario was much simpler than any arranged deal for Castle to win and then bug out later.
The 2010 election was looking like a bloodbath for Democrats that even a state like Delaware couldn’t escape. (Remember that we had already taken Massachusetts with Scott Brown’s victory by then, so for a time it looked like we could win almost anywhere) Coupled with the fact that Castle was the state’s at-large congressman and former two-term governor, and the seat looked like too much of a gamble for even the son of Biden to take on.
I also find it more plausible that Castle would have tried to occupy the Senate seat until he went out feet first. Delaware isn’t far from D.C. He could have kept going there even with increasing age and health problems (he wasn’t a spring chicken when he ran for the Senate and had suffered two strokes in 2006). Look at how many senators recently that refused to vacate the chamber even in light of bad or terminal health and eventually died: Byrd, Kennedy, Inouye, Lautenberg, and almost certainly McCain to come. These guys don’t let go of power easily. I doubt Castle would have done so either.