Challengers of the Unknown
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele is asked by Fox News whether his RNC would support primary challengers to the moderate Republican senators. He says, well, yes: whatever the state parties end up doing, he’ll do. Or more literally:
“„MICHAEL STEELE: I’m always open to everything, baby. Absolutely.
“„NEIL CAVUTO: By being open to that, baby, does that mean that you would consider punishing them?
Steele’s affirmative answer is probably just boilerplate. He wouldn’t want to say that, yes, he’d overrule state parties if they purged Arlen Specter or Olympia Snowe. It’s nonetheless a strange statement from a party chair who pledged to take back the northeast for the GOP. Meanwhile, the party may be searching for a primary challenger to Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky)—not because he’s liberal, but because he’s an increasingly rude and senile embarrassment (he predicted that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg would die soon) and he can’t win re-election.