Where the Tea Party will kill the GOP

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from Steve Kornacki at Salon:http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/10/19/tea_party_kill_gop/index.html


Tuesday, Oct 19, 2010

When you look at the map, it's not hard to imagine Republicans getting awfully close to the 51 seats they'll need to take control of the Senate. Right now, they have 41, but you can pretty much pencil in pick-ups in North Dakota, Indiana, Arkansas and Wisconsin (sorry, Feingold fans), bringing them to 45. That would leave them needing to win six more for an outright majority, with eight potentially ripe Democratic targets left on the map. So it's within reach for them.

But that's before you consider the Tea Party effect. As we've been noting for months, the GOP's restive base has nominated a series of ticking time bomb candidates in key races -- unseasoned politicians whose odd backgrounds, extreme views, and penchant for polarizing rhetoric were all likely to test swing voters' desire to cast their ballots for the GOP this year. Now, two weeks from Election Day, it's becoming clearer which Tea Party candidates are most likely to blow winnable Senate races for the GOP -- contests that are crucial to the party's hopes of winning back the chamber. Here, in descending order, are the five Tea Party Senate candidates most likely to kill the GOP:

5. Rand Paul (Kentucky) . . .
4. Joe Miller (Alaska) . . .
3. Ken Buck (Colorado) . . .
2. Sharron Angle (Nevada) . . .
1. Christine O'Donnell (Delaware) . . .

details: http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/10/19/tea_party_kill_gop/index.html

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1. kick

[butterfly77]

2. What I want to know is..

why didn't the Dems target Repugs in states where they think they are comfortable too?

[BlueDemKev]

3. I hate to say this, but.....

of the 5 races listed by Salon, the Republicans will win at least 3 of those....Kentucky (forget it, folks--that state is full of hillbillies), Alaska (right-wing state), and most likely Colorado (I can't see that state voting for a Democrat this year). And there's still Nevada, which is probably a 50-50 chance of going red.

I firmly believe that the 5 seats we need to spend ALL of our resources to defend are California, Washington, Nevada, Illinois, and West Virginia. Winning all 5 of these races will provide a still-comfortable majority in the Senate (53-47).