Christine O'Donnell: The GOP establishment's new BFF?
Christine O鈥橠onnell: She might be the GOP establishment鈥檚 new BFF.
Yes, Best Friend Forever. Did Karl Rove refer to some of her statements as 鈥渘utty鈥�? He鈥檚 such a kidder: You never know what he鈥檚 going to say now that he鈥檚 not in the White House. Did a Delaware GOP official say she 鈥渃ouldn鈥檛 be elected dogcatcher鈥�? Heat of the moment. Plus, people care a lot about pets. Maybe dogcatcher elections in the First State are bitterly contested.
(While we鈥檙e on the subject of Delaware, did you know it has the lowest mean elevation of any state in the nation? That鈥檚 because all but a bitty piece of it is located on the Atlantic coastal plain. We find that interesting for some reason.)
So two days after Ms. O鈥橠onnell kicked off the next phase of Michael Castle鈥檚 career by defeating the nine-term incumbent congressman in Delaware鈥檚 GOP Senate primary, Republicans from all over are rushing to close ranks and support her.
The head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Sen. John Cornyn (R) of Texas, has sent her a nice note, plus a committee check for $42,000. Mitt Romney 鈥� once and probably future presidential candidate 鈥� has kicked in $5,000 from his own political action committee funds.
鈥淣ow is the time for Republicans to rally behind their nominee,鈥� Mr. Romney said.
Sarah Palin, possible Romney rival, agrees. Of course she was with O鈥橠onnell from the first, endorsing her before the primary. Not that that鈥檚 important now: It鈥檚 time for bygones to be gone by, according to her Twitter feed.
鈥淧rimary debate is over; time 4unity is now bc time 4choosing is near,鈥� tweeted Ms. Palin on Wednesday evening.
Sen. Jim DeMint (R) of South Carolina has positioned himself as a sort of bridge between "tea party" organizations 鈥� which were big supporters of O鈥橠onnell 鈥� and the Republican leadership on Capitol Hill.
On Thursday in a broadcast interview, Senator DeMint defended Delaware鈥檚 new GOP Senate nominee, and he said the Republican Party needs to fully embrace the tea-party message of balancing the budget and returning fiscal sanity to Washington.
鈥淚鈥檓 not as concerned about what Christine O鈥橠onnell said 14 years ago as I am that she鈥檚 going to help us balance our budget here in Washington,鈥� said DeMint on NBC鈥檚 鈥淭oday鈥� show.
Meanwhile, Democrats are huddling and talking about how to approach the Delaware Senate race. Their candidate 鈥� New Castle County executive Chris Coons 鈥� currently has a big lead on O鈥橠onnell in the polls.
Of course, Representative Castle had a big lead over O鈥橠onnell in the polls at one point, so we鈥檙e pretty sure the Dems aren鈥檛 just sitting around figuring out which Senate office Mr. Coons should get.
One thing the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) can do is stop maintaining 鈥� Mike Castle鈥檚 Washington House of Waffles.
They鈥檇 set it up in anticipation of running against Castle in the general election. Getting ahead of ourselves, were we? So all those 鈥渕enu鈥� entries about perceived Castle changes in position 鈥� 鈥淭he Global Warmed Waffle鈥� and 鈥淭he (Bringing Home the Bacon) Double Waffle鈥� 鈥� are pretty much useless now. Think of all those DSCC intern鈥檚 hours of coding, wasted!
They are going to have to think of something different for O鈥橠onnell. A tip: 鈥淥鈥橠onnell鈥檚 House of Alleged Financial Improprieties鈥� does not really have a ring to it.
Democrat nominee Coons is playing things low-key, for now.
鈥淐hristine O鈥橠onnell is a different sort of Republican opponent in the general election than I had expected,鈥� he said at an impromptu press conference Wednesday. 鈥淚 respect the fact that Christine O鈥橠onnell is someone who has stood up and run for office three times now. I look forward to getting to know her better.鈥�
