Is Paul Broun pulling Georgia’s Congressional Delegation to the right?

From Politico.com

The messy politics of the Republican primary for Georgia’s open Senate seat has steamrolled its way into the Capitol.

The unruly race is roiling the state’s House delegation and causing problems for the GOP leadership.

Rep. Paul Broun — the only announced candidate to replace retiring Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss — is yanking much of the congressional delegation to the right and throwing their votes and the support of leadership into a daily flux.

The problem: There are four House Republicans interested in the Senate seat. But the Peach State delegation and GOP leaders say they have no idea what Broun is up to at any given time, causing agitation for the other three congressmen — Reps. Phil Gingrey, Jack Kingston and Tom Price.

It’s not that Broun is doing anything differently than he normally would, but now, it’s causing a ripple effect among his colleagues that wasn’t there before.

Broun, laughing with his face flushing deep red, acknowledged that Gingrey and Kingston are looking closely at how he votes.

“Imitation is the best form of flattery,” Broun chuckled.

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One of the first signs of trouble was a vote earlier this month on the continuing resolution to keep the government funded beyond March 27. Broun initially told GOP leaders, including Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), he was leaning toward supporting the bill.

But not only did he ultimately vote against the bill, but he also opposed the procedural motion to bring the bill to the floor — a nearly unheard of move by a member of the majority in House politics because it jeopardizes leadership’s control of the floor.

The dominoes then began to fall. Kingston and Gingrey ended up voting against both the procedural motion and the resolution itself. Price voted in favor of the rule and the CR.

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Then this week, as Republicans were rallying support for their 2014 budget, Broun took to the liberal New York Times editorial page to slam Rep. Paul Ryan’s spending plan, which he said “fails to seriously address runaway government spending, the most pressing problem facing our nation.”

Broun’s opposition to the budget seems to be causing problems for Kingston. He said he isn’t sure how he’ll vote on the spending plan, and his office removed a statement of support for the bill from its website. He voted for a nearly identical budget last year.

The rush to the right among the Georgians is all too clear. Gingrey is a 10-year veteran of the House, and Kingston has been in Washington for two decades, never causing their leadership much trouble. Now they find themselves as radicals, voting against things like procedural motions — an unpredictable move not welcomed by party leaders.

Kingston, who has not officially entered the race, admitted that Broun’s rightward tilt is changing his voting pattern, but said that is not the only factor in his own conservative shift. He acknowledged that following Broun in voting against procedural bills has gotten under leadership’s skin.

“As a practical matter, none of us wants to get on the left of the other one,” Kingston said. “You might watch someone out of the corner of your eye, but that is not going to be the central reason to support it or not.”

Gingrey’s office said he is “not trying to ‘outdo’ other members or make up for lost time — he has been consistently conservative in his voting record.” Price has been coy about his interest in the Senate seat. He declined to comment for this story.