Free Republic

Like any other conservative running in 2010, Christine O'Donnell hopes that a November 2 victory signals the end of a damaging era in American Politics. For Christine; however, there is an added weight to the occasion. . .she would be the winner of an open race that could throw the Democrat's plans for a lame-duck counteroffensive into a tailspin. Christine is running for Vice President Joe Biden's open Senate seat in Delaware. Because Biden has vacated his term, her reign as Republican Senator would begin immediately on November 3 and the Senate make-up now at 59 Democrats, generally filibuster proof,...

The picture, looking at the polls, is predictably grim for O’Donnell; as Neil Stevens has catalogued here and here, polling shows fairly convincingly that O’Donnell isn’t even as popular with Republicans in the general election as Castle, even before you get to independents and Democrats. The PPP poll showing O’Donnell pulling to a within-the-margin-of-error 47-44 lead among likely primary voters may establish that she’s electable in a primary that doesn’t even draw all Republican voters to the polls, but it certainly doesn’t suggest that she’s a strong candidate: GOP voters are pretty sharply divided about O’Donnell as well. 45% have...

On August 20, I endorsed Christine O’Donnell for the Delaware Senate GOP primary race. As I said on Sean Hannity’s TV show last week in repeating that endorsement, she is certainly far from perfect (who is?). But I think nine terms are enough for duck-and-hide, cap-and-tax liberal Republican Mike Castle — and it looks like GOP primary voters in Delaware are coming to the same conclusion as the primary looms tomorrow. I repeat: Entrenched incumbency is not an argument for more entrenched incumbency. Castle’s campaign questions O’Donnell’s trustworthiness. GOP primary voters need to question Castle’s. He was just one of...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 13, 2010 CONTACT: Levi Russell at (509) 979-6615 or via email at: Levi@FrontLineStrat.com HOW COULD MIKE CASTLE WIN IN NOVEMBER IF HE CAN'T WIN IN SEPTEMBER? One of the most oft-repeated claims made by Liberal RINO Mike Castle's campaign is that Republicans should look past his pro-Obama/pro-Pelosi voting record because he has the best chance "to win" in November were he to be the GOP nominee for U.S. Senate. But the developments in the GOP primary race between Conservative Republican Christine O'Donnell and Mr. Castle suggest this claim is looking increasingly hollow. "Mike Castle's campaign has...

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) used Twitter Sunday night to talk up Delaware's Christine O'Donnell, who is running against Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) for the state's Republican Senate nomination. "@ChristineOD," Bachmann tweeted, "is right on all the issues.. pro-job growth, pro-life, anti cap-and-trade and anti-Obama care!  Go Christine!"  O'Donnell replied several hours later.  "@BachmannforMN6 Thanks for your support. It seems that common sense conservative solutions aren't that common anymore. Time to change that," she said.  O'Donnell also received an endorsement from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) last Thursday. The primary is Tuesday.

WILMINGTON, DEL. - It's the "tea party" vs. the Republican Party in Tuesday's Senate primary in Delaware, where a popular moderate is suddenly under siege from a little-known conservative who in any other year might have been relegated to the footnotes of 2010's election records. That's not an entirely unfamiliar narrative in a year in which tea party organizations have ousted two incumbent senators. But Christine O'Donnell's battle with Rep. Mike Castle perhaps embodies the movement's greatest test, because unlike in other races in which the GOP has offered the tea party an awkward embrace, the Republican Party is fighting...

Two realities have increasingly become clear as this year's midterm Senate campaigns have taken shape. One is that enough seats are in play to give Republicans, who didn't even have the numbers to mount a filibuster on their own a year ago, a Senate majority. The other is that the Tea Party movement -- which essentially represents the disgruntled base of the GOP -- has forced enough fringe candidates on the party in enough marginal races to jeopardize the GOP's chances of fully capitalizing on what is a very favorable political climate. And now, the Republican establishment's Tea Party-induced headaches...

WILMINGTON, Del. -- For supporters of Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.), all eyes will be on Delaware's New Castle County Tuesday where the level of turnout in the state's contested GOP Senate primary could make or break the longtime congressman. New Castle County houses the urban population centers of Delaware. It contains Newark and Wilmington, the state's largest city.  The Castle campaign is hoping for solid turnout Tuesday in and around Wilmington to help the centrist congressman offset more conservative primary-goers in the southern part of the state who may be backing Tea Party favorite Christine O'Donnell.  O'Donnell is banking on...

<p>"Tom Ross must resign within the next 24 hours or face immediate termination," declared Amy Kremer, Chairman of the Tea Party Express.</p> <p>"As Mike Castle's chief advocate, Mr. Ross has trashed Republican candidates, beliefs and principles, and shown a complete lack of character or integrity. He is a walking disaster who has brought irreparable harm to the Republican Party.</p>

O'Donnell and the Battle of DelawareWill the state's GOP take a chance on her? If this were simply a battle of ideas, then, perhaps, the conservative insurgent would be galloping ahead, with the washed-out moderate left choking on tea-party dust. Delaware’s Republican Senate primary, however, has devolved into anything but an ideological scrap. Instead, strange gaffes and party infighting have turned the race into a must-watch mud-fest. Christine O’Donnell, a former GOP operative, is the tea party’s crusader du jour. With her easy charm and big-dollar backing from the Tea Party Express, O’Donnell presents real trouble for Rep. Mike Castle,...

I wondered yesterday whether Palin’s endorsement would pave the way for other prominent righties to weigh in. Here’s the answer, just across on Twitter: I’m proud to endorse Christine O’Donnell for US Senate in Delaware. She will stand strong for the principles of freedom. Did he hold off because he wasn’t convinced until today that O’Donnell can win, or was he under pressure from grassroots conservatives to jump in because Palin had taken a stand? Either way, DeMint has made his feelings about races like this crystal clear in the past. If O’Donnell wins the general election, great; one more...

As this Ruling Class versus Country Class battle picks up speed, two interesting developments in the Castle-O'Donnell Delaware donnybrook, written about nearby. Yesterday, the Country Class Sarah Palin went on the Country Class Sean Hannity Show to endorse the Country Class Christine O' Donnell over the Ruling Class Mike Castle in the Delaware U.S. Senate primary. And thus far, the Ruling Class Castle has refused to accept an invitation from the Country Class Mark Levin Show to discuss his Senate race. Both moments are clues to the status of different players in the increasingly vehement rebellion that every poll in...

The Republican Party of Delaware has filed a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission, accusing one of its own Senate candidates of illegally collaborating with the Tea Party Express. Attorneys for the state party asked the FEC to launch an immediate and thorough investigation into conservative GOP candidate Christine O’Donnell “to remedy the alleged violations and to ensure that these violations immediately cease and do not reoccur,” according to the complaint filed Thursday. O’Donnell, who faces Rep. Mike Castle in Tuesday’s primary, came under fire from the state party shortly after tea party-backed candidate Joe Miller upset Sen. Lisa...

During a surprise appearance on Sean Hannity's radio show Thursday, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin endorsed Delaware U.S. Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell. O'Donnell, backed by the Tea Party Express, is running in a tough primary against moderate Republican Rep. Mike Castle. The primary is on Tuesday. […] But a tweet sent out by Sean Hannity Thursday afternoon, tipped off many reporters that the endorsement was now official. As Hannity tweeted: "Thanks @SarahPalinUSA for the last minute call in. Endorsement of Christine O'Donnell was an exclusive. Said she hadn't told Christine yet." Shortly after Hannity's tweet, Christine O'Donnell tweeted back, @sarahpalinusa...

Tea party favorite Christine O’Donnell is seeking the GOP nomination for the Senate seat formerly held by Joe Biden in Delaware, and she tells Newsmax we “absolutely” must extend or make permanent the Bush tax cuts set to expire in January. [Snip] O’Donnell notes that Castle was one of the few Republicans who voted for cap-and-trade legislation. “He’s voted with Barack Obama on just about every major bill, and cap and trade seems to be the one voters are most concerned about. Because whether it’s a farmer or a small business owner or a senior citizen, everyone is concerned about...

In any other election cycle, at any other moment in Delaware's political history, Mike Castle would be coasting to victory. A two-time governor and longtime member of Congress, Castle, 71, has $2.6 million in the bank, a statewide approval rating in the high 60s and the backing of just about every official Republican institution in the country, including the Delaware state party, which in May endorsed him to run for Vice President Joe Biden's old Senate seat. But in Castle's more than 40 years as a politician, he has never had to deal with someone quite like Amy Kremer, a...

I sang at the Tea Party Express press conference in Delaware supporting Christine O'Donnell, Constitutional Republican for U.S. Senate. O'Donnell is a “real deal” Tea Party movement candidate; create more jobs, cut spending & debt, lower taxes and protecting our core values. However, I was struck by the number of tea party groups, volunteers and ordinary concerned citizens who showed up in support of O'Donnell. It confirmed that despite the media's attempts to convince us that the energy of the tea party movement is unsustainable, the movement is stronger than ever and growing. Here is a shout out to just...

As many of you know who read my blog, I am no fan of Senator John McCain. A man who has sold his principles one too many times to ingratiate himself with the beltway and media. But when it comes to Representative Mike Castle, he makes McCain look like another Jim DeMint. Supporting the DISCLOSE Act, Cap and Trade, as well as being against the repeal of Obamacare does not spell out republican to me: He is a liberal. I decided to look at Castle’s record in the House to see if he at least votes for republican issues 80%...

The tea party movement has largely been a boon for the country, reviving the case for limited government and a properly understood Constitution. Now that the general election campaign is near, however, we'll see how well the movement and its favored candidates can close the sale and pragmatically advance their goals. We say this in particular about their relationship to the Republican Party, and vice versa. The GOP is a more natural ideological home for most tea partiers than is the other major party, but they also suspect many Republicans of committing pragmatism, if not selling out too easily to...

Mike Castle's attack on Christine O'Donnell has focused heavily on her personal finances — back taxes, unpaid vendor, outstanding campaign debt. A reader notes a minor chink in Castle's armor: According to Washington, D.C., property tax records, he's had to make modest interest and penalty payments three times on his Capitol Hill apartment, in 2005 and 2006.