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Is the GOP prematurely picking favorites in the Arkansas senate race? [UPDATE]
By: Mark Hemingway
Commentary Staff Writer
11/24/09 3:51 PM EST
After the debacle in the NY-23 special election, Senator John Cornyn, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), announced, "We will not spend money in a contested primary."
However, it sure looks like the NRSC is throwing its weight around in one of the most heavily contested senate primaries in the country.
Last week, Cornyn and three other heavyweight GOP senators -- McConnell, Grassley and Vitter -- held an NRSC fundraiser for Gilbert Baker, an Arkansas state senator looking to challenge Blanche Lincoln for her senate seat. David J. Sanders, an Arkanasas political columnist, notes that when all is said and done there could be a nine-way GOP senate primary in the state.
So why is the NRSC raising money for Baker? Making matters worse, Baker is not an especially conservative candidate. Like a lot of Arkansas Republicans he's in the Huckabee mold of being socially conservative and somewhat economically liberal. Citizens First Congress, a liberal group, rated Baker as having the most liberal voting record of any Republican senator in the Arkansas legislature. But Sen. Blanche Lincoln currently has a 27 percent approval rating in her home state. "She's a dead woman walking," Sanders told me.
Lincoln could easily be bested by a more conservative candidate than Baker -- so why is the NRSC raising money for him? This seems like exactly the kind of behavior that has caused the conservative grassroots to rebel against the national GOP.
UPDATE: The NRSC contacted me to say that they have been holding fundraisers for competing primary candidates and that such fundraising events are "fully facilitated" and paid for by the candidates. From an AP article earlier this month:
Amber Wilkerson Marchand, a spokeswoman for the committee, said the committee hasn't endorsed anyone in the primary and doesn't plan to.
Marchand said Baker had asked to have the fundraiser at the committee's headquarters in Washington, and that the group would allow other candidates to have events there if they asked.
So for all you perspective GOP senate candidates out there looking for cash, give the NRSC a call.
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