Storming The Castle In Delaware
The other day, I noted that Republican efforts to win back Senate seats in 2010 are hampered by the fact that there are competitive primaries in almost every key race. The one exception was Delaware, where Rep. Mike Castle (R) is arguably the early favorite to win the seat formerly held by Vice President Biden.
That may have been a bit premature, as it appears now that Christine O'Donnell, the party's nominee in 2008 against Biden, plans to run an aggressive race from the right against the longtime Congressman. This Saturday, O'Donnell will make her first speech of the campaign at a Delaware Tea Party Rally in Dover. From a campaign release:
Christine will join participants to stand in opposition to the Obama-Pelosi liberal agenda that seeks to increase government authority and decrease individual freedom and liberty.Committed to promoting conservative Reagan principles, Christine will address the rally and express her opposition to a government takeover of health care, wasteful spending, and other anti-free-enterprise efforts by Washington beltway politicians, and why 2010 holds great promise in turning the tide in Congress.
In a separate op-ed in a local paper, O'Donnell suggests the New York-23 race emboldens her effort, taking a shot at the moderate Castle:
"Republican leaders backed a liberal Republican, also referred to as a RINO (Republican in Name Only.) In the true spirit of grassroots activism, voters rallied behind a conservative Republican who then ran on an independent ticket. As all three candidates remained neck and neck, the RINO jumped ship and backed the Democrat. Some spin doctors are trying to say that the Conservative was the spoiler in this race. ... The majority of the voters in NY-23 voted Republican. Had the RINO endorsed the Conservative, I believe the outcome would have been different.
It's hard to imagine a scenario in which Castle loses to O'Donnell, given his advantage in name recognition and strong popularity in the First State. And as he takes shots from the right, he also faces an attack from Democrats today, with state party leaders holding a conference call on the possibility of Castle voting against health care reform legislation this weekend. He may actually embrace taking fire from both sides to burnish a moderate persona for the general election. But stranger things have happened and could happen with more than 300 days until a primary.