Washington Times:
The tea party movement that helped elect dozens of fiscal conservatives in 2010 to give Republicans control of the House is already mobilizing and recruiting candidates in a bid to take over the Senate next year as well.
With the 2012 electoral cycle just getting started, hopefuls backed by the tea party from Indiana and Texas to Virginia and Maine are testing the waters, targeting both vulnerable Democrats and incumbent Republicans seen as insufficiently willing to embrace the group's strong anti-spending, anti-debt agenda.
In Indiana over the weekend, some 70 state tea party organizations met to unify under the coalition Hoosiers for a Conservative Senate and discuss a primary challenge to longtime moderate GOP Sen. Richard G. Lugar.
"We're not happy with Sen. Lugar's progressive, liberal stance that has worsened over the years," said Monica Boyer, president of the Kosciusko County-based tea party group Silent No More.
Indiana conservatives are particularly upset with Mr. Lugar, a six-term incumbent, over his votes for Obama-backed initiatives such as the START missile treaty with Russia and Dream Act legislation easing rules for some illegal immigrants. Despite the string of tea party primary challenges to moderate Republicans in the 2010 midterms, Mr. Lugar has made it clear in recent days that he will be running again.
"This is why we have taken a very early campaign stance of vigorous fundraising, vigorous campaigning, anticipating that that kind of a campaign might occur," he told Bloomberg TV's "Political Capital" show.
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In Texas, another establishment-vs.-tea party battle may be brewing over the open seat of retiring GOP Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, a prime backer of conservative insurgent candidates in 2010, wasted no time rejecting the Republican establishment's reported choice of Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, saying he preferred former Solicitor General Ted Cruz and former state Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams.
"This is a major development," Mr. DeMint said of Mrs. Hutchison's retirement. "It opens up a Senate seat in a strong Republican state, giving us another opportunity to elect a principled conservative."
"We don't endorse liberal or wishy-washy Republicans," he added. "Michael is an outstanding conservative leader, and he will be at the very top of our list as we consider candidates for an endorsement."
In Virginia, former GOP Sen. George Allen is considering a rematch with Sen. Jim Webb, the Democrat who narrowly ousted him in 2006. But Mr. Allen is already facing a challenger in his own party in Jamie Radtke, founder of the Richmond Tea Party. Though a challenge from the right on the conservative Mr. Allen was once considered unthinkable, he faces the same criticism as did some 2010 candidates did of being too much of a Washington insider.
In Maine, Republican Sen. Olympia J. Snowe is up for re-election in 2012. While still broadly popular in the state, she has angered many in her own party with her willingness to cross party lines, including her recent vote to end the military's ban on gays serving in the military.
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Utah's Orin Hatch is also in trouble with two potential Tea Party candidates polling ahead of him. It would have been interesting to also see potential match ups with Democrats who are vulnerable. There are many of them and it is not too early to start running against them.
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