Nobody handicapping 2014 races as recently as three weeks ago factored in the possibility that Kansas, of all places, might become a sudden GOP sinkhole. Now Sen. Pat Roberts is in real and consistent trouble against independent candidate Greg Orman, as part of what appears to be a self-conscious revolt of moderate Republican voters who are also threatening to throw Gov. (and former Sen.) Sam Brownback out of office.
“A self-conscious revolt of moderate Republican voters…?” Go on…
Obama hatred drove Kansas into full-blown Teabagery. They would have elected Christine O’Donnell to Congress, and in fact did elect Republicans similar in outlook and brainpower to O’Donnell. Now that tax cuts have failed to usher in a golden age of prosperity, they are having more than a little buyers remorse and are seeking to return the state to some measure of fiscal and political sanity. They are going to have to take their medicine and lose some elections, but disciplining their nihilistic teabag zealots is worth it.
Delaware Republicans don’t have too many more things they can lose, so they have to take a different approach to applying discipline. And yet, a self-conscious revolt of moderate Republican voters could have some impact. They’d have to self-consciously try to win back the county level party jobs. They would also have to be explicitly and vocally opposed to teabag zealotry. That would mean that guys like Tom Kovach, Ernie Lopez and Charlie Copeland would have to take principled stands against the DE Teabagers innumeracy and their anti-American unwillingness to compromise.
Am I dreaming? Who would have predicted the current state of affairs in Kansas.
Could someone like Kovach or Lopez rise to the moment? I like to think they could. Could Copeland…? I rather doubt it.