Can Castle Stop the Tea Party's Next Upset?

With Alaska's GOP primary resolved, attention now turns to Delaware where Mike Castle is attempting to hold off a Tea Party challenger.

Joe Miller’s victory in Alaska has set the stage for the next race where the Tea Party wants to cause an upset victory. In Delaware’s GOP primary, Tea Party-backed candidate Christine O’Donnell is hoping to win the nomination from establishment candidate Mike Castle. Lisa Murkowski conceded to Joe Miller on Tuesday August 31st, and on Wednesday September 1^st, Mike Castle’s campaign launched their official Christine O’Donnell attack site.

The site focuses on O’Donnell’s record with her personal finances and argues that she relies on campaign donations to pay for her living expenses. This seems to be similar to other messaging that some journalists have received; such as Sam Stein of the Huffington Post who received emails from Republican operatives trying to show how O’Donnell has “no discernible steady form of income.”

The site does not mention O’Donnell’s recent backing from the Tea Party movement. It does refer to how 92% of her campaign funds are from out of state, but avoids making an ideological case against O’Donnell. The Tea Party Express, which spent more than $500,000 on television ads for Joe Miller in Alaska, has announced that it intends to spend $250,000 for Christine O’Donnell in Delaware.

Christine O’Donnell may also be planning to play up her Tea Party credentials.  An article from Politico reported that O’Donnell was hoping to use footage from Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally in Washington DC as part of a campaign advertisement.

O’Donnell is currently not in the best standing with Delaware’s own GOP. She has been described by the Republican chairman of Delaware as "a perennial candidate who lacks the standing in Delaware to get elected to anything." The Party’s official twitter feed has also been linking to articles critical of O’Donnell.

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