'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
Are Republicans and Tea Party supporters heading for a potential showdown? Unless things start to change, an unpleasant implosion within the U.S. conservative movement appears to be imminent.
Republicans hoping to capture a majority in the Senate are casting wary eyes on the tea party, well aware of 2010 and 2012 races that opened the flood gates to candidates outside the GOP ticket.
Rep. W. Todd Akin is now locked in as the Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Missouri after the deadline to withdraw passed this week, and a growing number of Republicans have started lining up behind him as their only option for holding on to the seat.
The House Ethics Committee's decision to investigate Rep. Shelley Berkley of Nevada comes as a worst-case scenario for Democrats in the state's crucial U.S. Senate race, which could go either way.
Few political analysts thought Christine O'Donnell, political neophyte and perennial outsider candidate, would defeat heavyweight, nine-time Rep. Michael N. Castle in the Delaware Republican Senate primary for Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s former Senate seat. Against what initially seemed like insurmountable odds, Miss O'Donnell soundly beat Mr. Castle 53 percent to 47 percent.
"You'd have to be an idiot not to prepare" for primary challenges from tea party candidates, said Rob Jesmer, the past executive director of the GOP Senate campaign committee who experienced first-hand the surprise election of several tea party candidates, in an Associated Press report.
GOP hoping for Senate gains tread carefully around tea party →
