Establishment Republicans are crowing that their resounding wins Tuesday night repudiated the Tea Party’s insistence that ideological purity is key to electoral success.
But don’t tell that to conservatives, who aren’t admitting defeat.
In fact, they’re claiming victory on the issues, if not for the candidates themselves, and pledging future fights to hold the GOP-led Senate accountable if senators stray from their campaign promises. “Every single Republican ran as a conservative,” Brent Bozell, chairman of ForAmerica, told The Hill. “Name me one moderate issue that won. Moderation was defeated everywhere.”
The numbers don’t bear that out. The national party made an early and aggressive play to neutralize conservative challenges and make sure the most electable candidates won the party’s nominations, to great effect.
"We said we were going to be the Nick Saban of recruiting, we were going to recruit the best candidates, put them in the right position," National Republican Senatorial Committee Political Director Ward Baker told reporters Thursday. "We decided we couldn't be Akin-ed anymore. No more witches, no more gaffes."
In the end, conservatives won just one of their competitive primary fights in the Nebraska Senate race, lost all of their incumbent challenges and worked with establishment Republicans to support less-than-ideal candidates to achieve the shared goal of taking back Senate control....
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
