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The 2014 elections are starting look, more and more, like a
showdown with the GOP, with the tea partiers eager to take control and business
groups determined to stop them in their tracks.
Today’s elections will offer the first dose of bad news for the
tea party folks as ultraconservative Republican Ken Cuccinelli is likely to go
down to defeat in his gubernatorial bid in a Purple State, Virginia, and
moderate GOP Gov. Chris Christie is probably going to score a landslide win in
a Blue State, New Jersey.
The Viriginia race has shaped up as a disaster for Republicans
as Cuccinelli’s fundraising was a bust and the contest has demonstrated the
GOP’s glaring lack of campaign trail surrogates who can appeal to all factions
of the party.
written a column for MLive that outlines the intra-party feud and how it is
about to explode into a big-bucks, high-stakes drama in next year’s GOP primary elections.
In her piece, Dumas writes:
Defending Main
Street, ready to raise millions
to defeat tea party candidates. The U.S. Chamber of
Commerce is playing in an Alabama GOP U.S. House primary,
something the establishment has resisted.
“Of course, the time to start doing this was in 2006, back when
there were still moderates left in the GOP like Michigan former U.S. Rep.
Joe Schwarz. Years before the advent of the Tea Party, anti-tax
groups like Club for Growth
successfully knocked out establishment Republicans …
why longtime Indiana U.S.
Sen. Dick Lugar last year was trounced by a tea partier — who
promptly fell to a Democrat in the general election.
“Now the establishment is sick of losing elections and wants to
wrest back control of the party. They used the tea party’s passion when it was
convenient, but now see it as a destructive
force.”
