Sen. Jim DeMint singled out four candidates in Senate races across the country that he believes would help push the upper chamber and Republican Party in a more conservative direction.
Absent from the list of those DeMint specifically targeted: Virginia’s Republican frontrunner George Allen.
DeMint, R-S.C., sat down with The Washington Examiner editorial board Thursday and answered a wide range of questions, including how the Senate races are shaping up. To hear DeMint talk, that’s the more important battle this fall.
“This election is more about the Senate than the presidency,” he said.
DeMint, who is very popular in Tea Party circles, said races in Texas, Ohio, Nebraska and Wisconsin pose key opportunities for conservative-minded Republicans to add to their ranks in the Senate. Those candidates would not only help the party take back the Senate, but also force current Republican leadership to acquiesce to the wishes of the more conservative wing of the party.
No mention was made of nearby Virginia, where Allen is widely expected to take the party’s nomination into a general election battle against Democrat Tim Kaine.
In fact, DeMint was critical of Tommy Thompson, the former Republican governor of Wisconsin who served as President George W. Bush’s secretary of health and human services. DeMint said Thompson was a “good guy” but they didn’t need another member of “retired governors club.”
That’s a club to which Allen, too, belongs. He served as governor of Virginia from 1994 to 1998 before successfully running for U.S. Senate in 2000.
Allen has lined up an impressive collection of endorsements from the party’s elite, including Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, who sent out a letter of support for Allen Thursday. On Wednesday, Allen added Sen. John Thune of South Dakota to his list of supporters.
But the knock on Allen is he’s an establishment favorite and a Bush-era Republican. That has opened the door for conservative grassroots campaigns to find space on the political right of Allen to challenge him.
So far it doesn’t look like that will have much bearing on the outcome of the race. Allen has run a campaign focused entirely on Kaine and his fundraising numbers are strong. No poll has shown a legitimately contender has emerged able to compete with Allen.
