Just recently, we all heard about the shocking defeat of popular GOP Rep. Mike Castle to Tea Party-backed candidate Christine O’Donnell at the Republican primary in Delaware. The upset was so huge that it is now the talk of the town and one that deserves a political story. We all know that Washington is currently led by Democrats as they form the majority. Republicans, have designed a master plan to take back control of the House most especially the U.S. senate. In order to do this, they should ultimately win most of the seats that are up for grabs during the coming midterm elections.
Delaware is one of the nation’s smallest and least populous states. Despite of this, the defeat of Castle at the race may have already jeopardized the chances of GOP in taking control of the Senate in November. Castle was a veteran congressman and was highly favored to win easily in the race. He was the kind of Republican that Delaware wanted; fiscally conservative but moderate in social issues. Then after came O’Donnel who was endorsed by the Tea Party Express. She is pro-life and was successful in positioning herself as the anti-establishment candidate.
Initially, the Republicans thought that the coming of the Tea Party Express was a significant boost to their campaign especially that Tea Party activists are Anti-Washington. They are discontented with the things that are happening today in the country and would certainly favor change in governance. It was just until recently when they realized that the Tea Party may in fact hurt the Republican cause. Another problem is that Republicans can’t rely too much on Tea Party anger in order to win this November. They also have to appeal to independents especially most of them are easily turned off to O’Donnell’s extreme rhetoric and far-right views.
Despite of an impending Republican defeat, Democrat leaders are not taking things lightly. On Wednesday, Vice President Joe Biden urged his fellow Democrats to not underestimate Tea Party Candidates. He further emphasized that if progressives are not energized come this November election, they may well be faced with unforeseen circumstances that will endanger that things that they most care about. It is good to note that aside from O’Donnell’s upset victory, there are 8 other Tea Party victories that were registered during the senate primaries.
Biden also said that the present accomplishments of the Obama administration such as the reform in the U.S. health care system, establishment of laws with regards to hate crimes and the regulation of tobacco will all be put at risk if Democrats become too complaisant. There are other major issues such as the Bush-era tax cuts that they should thoroughly discuss. The main point of Biden’s speech is to make every Democrat aware that the opposition is real and will give them a real fight this coming November.
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