We could get used to this [5]. The "this" being real conservatives winning Republican primaries. And Jim DeMint has been taking a leading role in making it happen of late.
DeMint's Senate Conservatives Fund has been recruiting, seeking out and endorsing genuine conservatives to run for the Republican US Senate nomination in their respective states - many times in direct opposition to what the Republican Senatorial Committee has been doing. And last night he had another win.
Mike Lee won the Utah GOP's Senate nomination over Tim Bridgewater by 51% to 49% in a hard fought primary. This was after both Lee and Bridgewater defeated incumbent Republican Senator Bob Bennett at the Utah GOP state convention several weeks ago.
This comes after DeMint's PAC has already been instrumental in raising the visibility for Marco Rubio in Florida, Sharon Angle in Nevada, Rand Paul in Kentucky. The biggest loss for the PAC so far was with Chuck DeVore out in California...but again, that's California. The PAC is also endorsing Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania and Ken Buck in Colorado.
From the Politico [6]:
Tuesday's nomination of Mike Lee for the Senate by Utah Republicans served up yet another reminder about what this tumultuous and unpredictable election year might mean for next year’s Congress: The decorous and staid U.S. Senate could get a lot rowdier in 2011.
Lee, a 38-year-old conservative lawyer who enjoyed support from tea party activists, is all but certain to fill the seat of 76-year-old Sen. Robert Bennett, the sober institutionalist and senator’s son who failed to even make his party’s primary ballot after three terms.
The transition from septuagenarian Bennett to Lee, who is younger than anyone else currently in the chamber, may be the most vivid illustration of how the next Senate could veer further from its clubby and collegial tradition, but it’s hardly the only example.
Republicans Rand Paul in Kentucky and Sharron Angle in Nevada made a name for themselves by bucking the established order. ...
All of this activity prompted Salon to write a story on DeMint this week asking, "What does DeMint want [7]"?
In the past year, Jim DeMint, South Carolina's junior senator, has transformed himself from right-wing outlier to the Senate’s leading tribune of Tea Party sentiment. His influence has expanded despite -- or perhaps because of -- his willingness to thumb his nose at Republican Party elders, a trait that only adds to the intrigue about his ultimate intentions.
Does he hope to displace Mitch McConnell, the GOP leader in the Senate? Might he harbor even loftier -- that is to say, presidential -- ambitions? Or is he content to position himself as the most conservative senator in an increasingly conservative party, and to reap whatever harvest might result? ...
Of course, the real answer to their question is obvious - he wants more conservatives in the US Senate, which is why grassroots conservatives are all too willing to cheer him on and contribute to his efforts.
Long story short, we stand a pretty good chance of having a few more Jim DeMint's in the US Senate come January. A very good prospect.
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You can contribute to the Senate Conservatives Fund (and/or any of their endorsed candidates) here [8].
