Palin Spurs New GOP Primary Battle
Thursday, Sarah Palin complicated GOP efforts to defeat Democratic Senator Patty Murray in Washington, by failing to endorse the mainstream candidate courted by Senator Cornyn and RNC Chair Michael Steele.
Yesterday, Sarah Palin complicated GOP efforts to target Democratic Senator Patty Murray in Washington. By endorsing outside candidate Clint Didier to be the GOP’s nominee in the senate race, Palin may have forced out Dino Rossi, the mainstream establishment candidate with the best odds of actually defeating Sen. Murray in a general election.
Palin endorsed Didier on her facebook page, calling him a "selfless, inspiring commonsense conservative" who would "help put our country on the right track." With Palin’s endorsement of Didier however, former Washington state senator and two-time Washington gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi may face a contentious primary fight.
Rossi, who had not yet made a decision on entering the race, had been heavily courted. He met with both John Cornyn (Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee) and Michael Steele at the end of March.
Rossi also has statewide appeal and high recognition. In 2004, he lost the closest gubernatorial race in the history of the United States by only 133 votes to Democrat Christine Gregoire. (Rossi had actually been certified as governor before ultimately losing in a recount.) He subsequently ran for the same office in 2008 and again lost to Gregoire, this time by a margin of 53-47%.
Polling numbers suggest that if Rossi does not run, the GOP is not likely to take Patty Murray's Senate seat. Rossi has polled far better than either Didier or the other candidate Don Benton. As of May 4th, Rasmussen shows Democratic incumbent Patty Murray leading Didier 51%-36% and leading Don Benton 52%-38%. Murray only leads Rossi 48%-46%, however.
Rossi was never likely to be a Tea Party favorite (today he is speaking at the Mainstream Republicans annual conference in Setac, where tomorrow's events include a panel titled "Tea Party or the Republican Party? How Ross Perot Elected Bill Clinton"). Palin's backing for another candidate makes the prospect that Rossi could win the support of tea party supporters in the primary even less likely.
In a year that has not been kind to establishment candidates, Mr. Rossi now must make a decision knowing that in order to win the GOP nomination, he will have to defeat a candidate supported by the same tea party machine that helped swing the Kentucky primary to Rand Paul and ended Bob Bennett’s renomination bid in Utah.