To his Republican critics, Rep. Paul Broun is 2014’s Todd Akin: a far-right candidate who may win a crowded GOP primary but will blow the party’s chances at holding a critical Senate seat.
But campaigning across Georgia, Broun is modeling himself as the next Sen. Ted Cruz, a conservative firebrand and member of the Senate’s “hell no” caucus — and someone who will constantly give fits to GOP leaders if they even think about compromising.
“The establishment don’t want me to go to the U.S. Senate,” Broun told a breakfast gathering of conservative activists here in the northern Atlanta suburbs. “The reason for that is because when I go to the U.S. Senate, it will be Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Mike Lee and Paul Broun. The establishment don’t want that.”
Georgia is one of just two GOP seats at risk of falling into Democratic hands in 2014, meaning a win here is essential if Republicans want to net the six seats necessary to win the majority. But what Republicans in Washington and Georgia fear is a repeat of 2010 and 2012: a bloody primary followed by a weak general election candidate who will give away a seat Republicans would otherwise win.
To avoid that prospect in Georgia, Republicans in Washington are weighing whether to dump big bucks into the primary to prevent Broun from winning if his candidacy picks up steam, according to several sources.
He’s up against other candidates who are trying to sell their conservative credentials.
“This is the time for a senator from Georgia who is not just someone who is mostly conservative but one that stands strongly on those principles of traditional Georgia values — and is not wavering,” Rep. Phil Gingrey, another conservative in the race, told a seniors group at a Japanese restaurant in the southern Atlanta suburb of McDonough.
via Ghost of Akin looms over Georgia Senate race – POLITICO.com.
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