What to do about the Two Ladies from Maine?
What about Mr. Brown who took down the Democratic Establishment in the Bay State, with an upset victory in a 3-to-1 blue state beholden to the Kennedy clan for nigh fifty years?
Do we simply watch them dissolve along with the rest of the Republican moderates, or do we find a better way to market them to their constituents and segue them into Tea Party principles.
Granted, Lincoln Chafee, former U.S. Senator and Republican from Rhode Island, ran unsuccessfully for reelection as the anti-Bush in 2006. Now, Chafee is serving as the state's Independent Governor. Granted, Christopher Shays, the last Republican Congressman from the New England region, voted against the Bush agenda more times the former New York Senator Hilary Clinton before losing his seat in 2008. These moderates were strictly opportunists, like Arlen Specter.
Naturally, there would be little love lost if wishy-washy moderate Republicans, effete East Coast Conservatives, or ( to the point) RINO Republicans were phased out, as long as they can be reliably replaced with competitive, competent, and consistent conservatives. Arlen Specter switched parties, only to lose the 2010 primary against Sestak and the general election to Tea Party backed Pat Toomey, former Congressman slighted by the Bush Administration in 2004 in favor of the status quo Specter. A similar upset may be in the works, since Senator Olympia Snowe now represents a state where Tea Party insurgence has swept the Governor's mansion and the statehouse. Despite her steady popularity with Democrats, a growing tide of mean-what-you-say conservatism may sweep Snowe away and drive in a more reliable conservative voice to the Senate.
On the other hand, The Tea Party (and all limited government) proponents must keep in mind that Massachusetts Senators Scott Brown rode to power in 2010 primarily to stop Obamacare–which he did. The residents of Boston, MA and environs already have a state medical mandate and want no part of another medical mandate. Otherwise, Brown's record has been moderately acceptable, considering the fact that he is a patch of pink floating over a sea of blue. He deserves all the help he can get from the National Leadership to stay in his seat.
Tea Party purity will come off as piping-hot extremism if not released properly. Sharron Angle was poised to take on and take down Harry Reid, an obnoxious faux-populist who is still leading the charge against the will of the vast majority of Americans. She simply needed more training, more help on the ground, and a more consistent message hitting on the economy without the racial flaps she inadvertently slipped out during the campaign.
Delaware at-large house Rep Mike Castle was a shoo-in for the Senate seat in the First State, only to be undone by a Tea Party purist who failed to resonate with the fiscally-conservative socially-liberal voters from Dover to Wilmington. Christine O'Donnell was simply an unacceptable candidate, not just for poorly framing valuable views as near-extremist, but her sordid forays into Bill-Maher cable TV mayhem and her financial peccadilloes. Mike Castle deserved to win and would have better represented Delaware and the nation.
In 2012, the Republican Party and the Tea Party movement have to weigh carefully the injunction of recently-deceased revivalist of Conservatism William F. Buckley: "Support the Conservative candidate who is most electable." The circumstances on the ground, the focus of the ground troops, and the power of populist ground swelling will best determine whether the Republican party and its Tea Party cohorts should support the moderate incumbent or sponsor a more conservative challenger.
Conservatism, even its in moderate form, is not all but dead in the North East, yet establishment and grass-roots functionaries must decide carefully how close to cut pragmatism and principle when deciding which politician will best promote the needs of the Party and the Nation.