Annie
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GOP confronts sore-loser syndrome - POLITICO.com Print View
GOP confronts sore-loser syndrome - POLITICO.com Print View
GOP confronts sore-loser syndrome
By: Alexander Burns
September 21, 2010 04:31 AM EDT
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowskis decision to run for reelection as a write-in candidate has been greeted by conservative activists as the latest outrage in an ongoing struggle between establishment Republicans and the GOPs activist base.
Murkowskis move ends the 2010 primary season about where it started: With a Republican legislator, well regarded within the Beltway, effectively bolting the party to look after their own fortunes.
In the spring of 2009, it was Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter switching to the Democratic caucus in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to get reelected. Now, its Murkowski making a long-shot effort to win another term despite losing a Republican primary.
For conservative activists, portrayed throughout the cycle as a disruptive force within the GOP, the episode revives a familiar complaint: That its actually establishment pols who have consistently undermined efforts to unify the GOP after primary voters have spoken.
...
The tea party activists get involved in Republican primaries, play by the rules, and then the Republican establishment candidate proves that he was never a loyal Republican in the first place and goes rogue, said Matt Kibbe, president of the tea party-aligned group FreedomWorks. Thats frustrating, but its part of the process of disciplining the Republican establishment. Theyre coming around.
Kibbe added: What youre seeing in the Republican primaries amounts to a hostile takeover of the Republican Party and I mean that in the technical sense of replacing a failed management and tired ideas.
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