Topr GOP Donors Seek to Block Tea Party Candidates

Steven J. Law, a leader of the Conservative Victory Project, say they are taking steps to steer Mr. King away from a Senate run.

This blog has looked at the take over of the GOP grassroots and local city and county committees by the Christofacsists and ignorance embracing, knuckle dragging elements of the so-called Tea Party.  The result has been a growing crop of lunatic candidates who are nearly unelectable in a general election not dominated by the Kool-Aid drinkers as is the case with GOP primaries.  Sharon Angle, Todd Akin, Christine O'Donnell, and Richard Mourdock, are just some of the more visible of the lunatics that thrill the reality untethered GOP base.  Now, a group of major GOP donors is seeking to intervene and block the nomination of individuals better place in a mental ward than on high profile ballot.  Whether the effort will be successful will remain to be seen, but at least it is an attempt to drag the GOP back from extremism and insanity.  Here are excerpts from the New York Times on the effort:

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — The biggest donors in the Republican Party are financing a new group to recruit seasoned candidates and protect Senate incumbents from challenges by far-right conservatives and Tea Party enthusiasts who Republican leaders worry could complicate the party’s efforts to win control of the Senate.

The group, the Conservative Victory Project, is intended to counter other organizations that have helped defeat establishment Republican candidates over the last two election cycles. It is the most robust attempt yet by Republicans to impose a new sense of discipline on the party, particularly in primary races. 

“There is a broad concern about having blown a significant number of races because the wrong candidates were selected,” said Steven J. Law, the president of American Crossroads, the “super PAC” creating the new project. “We don’t view ourselves as being in the incumbent protection business, but we want to pick the most conservative candidate who can win.” 

The effort would put a new twist on the Republican-vs.-Republican warfare that has consumed the party’s primary races in recent years. In effect, the establishment is taking steps to fight back against Tea Party groups and other conservative organizations that have wielded significant influence in backing candidates who ultimately lost seats to Democrats in the general election. 

The first test of the group’s effort to influence primary races could come here in Iowa, where some Republicans are already worrying about who will run for the seat being vacated by Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat. It is the first open Senate seat in Iowa since 1974, and Republicans are fearful of squandering a rare opportunity.

Representative Steve King, a six-term Iowa Republican, could be among the earliest targets of the Conservative Victory Project. He said he had not decided whether he would run for the Senate, but the leaders of the project in Washington are not waiting to try to steer him away from the race. 

Mr. King has compiled a record of incendiary statements during his time in Congress, including comparing illegal immigrants to dogs and likening Capitol Hill maintenance workers to “Stasi troops” after they were ordered to install environmentally friendly light bulbs. But he rejected the suggestion that his voting record or previous remarks would keep him from winning if he decided to run for the Senate.

In Iowa, Cory Adams, the chairman of the Story County Republican Party, said the criticism aimed at Mr. King was unfair and misdirected. He warned of resistance from conservative activists if outside groups tried to interfere in the Senate race.  “If he wants to run for the Senate, he should be allowed to run,” Mr. Adams said of Mr. King, whose Congressional district includes Story County. “The more people get to know him, the more they will like him.”

It should make for great entertainment watching the big money donors try to stamp out the darlings of the most irrational and insane elements of the party base.  These big donors may have an unwinnable battle ahead of them given the way Christofascists and Tea Party elements have metastasized across the GOP base.