“What’s to stop them, knowing as they do the treachery of RINO’s, from filing all the same guys they would have had the RINO’s betrayed their oaths before the deadline? “
Successful house candidates spend $1.5 million dollars on average in the main election. To primary somebody you’ll probably need nearly that much so count it as $3 million dollars. Waiting until after the primary filing robs potential challengers of the impetus needed to generate that first $1.5 million dollars.
But they don’t need $1.5MM to file. My point is that if they file a guy, they they keep the door open and the deadline becomes meaningless. Later is better still, sure, for the RINO’s, because like you note it hampers fundraising by the TP candidate, but just the exact deadline itself doesn’t have to mean anything so long as the TP is thinking ahead.