Where Is The Love? Will Disunity Be A Problem For The GOP?
The recent highly-contested Republican primaries have produced a slate of candidates who, on the positive side for the GOP, are battle tested.
On the negative side, the primaries also produced hurt feelings. And in several cases, Republican primary losers who have yet to throw their political capital behind the winners in a show of unity.
In Washington, Clint Didier (R) released a statement on his website that reads like a concession speech, but makes no mention of any willingness to work for GOP nominee Dino Rossi. (Didier has reportedly said he wants to meet with Rossi.) In CO SEN, Jane Norton hasn't signed on to any unity events with GOP nominee Ken Buck . Sue Lowden did endorse Sharron Angle on the night of the NV SEN GOP primary, but reportedly hasn't done anything for her since. Rob Simmons appeared to run an on again/off again campaign because he didn't like now GOP nominee Linda McMahon and now doesn't appear to be throwing his weight behind her.
It's not limited to the Senate, either. Immediately following the primary in WA 03 this week, David Castillo said he "wishes" GOP nominee Jaime Herrera "all the best," but stopped short of endorsing her. And in CO GOV there has been all sorts of turmoil on the GOP side, as state GOP Chairman Dick Wadhams had to wade into the the ongoing skirmish between former Rep. Tom Tancredo and GOP nominee Dan Maes .
Some of these cases may be instructive in the debate over the effect of the tea party on the GOP. In CO SEN and NV SEN, the establishment candidates have refused to back the tea party supported candidates who won. Somewhat similarly, Simmons clearly viewed McMahon as an outsider candidate in CT SEN.
This isn't entirely limited to the Republican side of the aisle. Rep. Kendrick Meek is currently locked in a nasty primary against Jeff Greene in the FL SEN Dem primary. But so far, there appear to be far fewer cases of Dem primary losers fueding with the winner.
The big question all this raises is whether or not this disunity matters for the GOP in November. At this point it is unclear. In may not matter in Washington. Didier only earned a little more than 12% of the vote, and it has been pretty clear from the beginning that Rossi is the strongest candidate.
There is also an argument that by the time November rolls around, this disunity will be forgotten. UVA political science professor Larry Sabato said there is plenty of academic research that suggests divisive primaries don't negatively affect the nominee.
"Despite what people think, divisive primaries have very little affect on November results," Sabato said. "The reason is not that disunity is helpful, it's unhelpful. The reason is even disgruntled challengers usually come around by November." Sabato added that by November, the usual electoral wave takes over, overcoming the sour grapes following a primary.
Even so, this may be an atypical year and this disunity is worth keeping an eye on. If nothing else, it may create headaches for party officials. As one senior Dem official put it: "Can you imagine if [Dem PA SEN nominee and Rep.] Joe Sestak and [Sen.] Arlen Specter were still fueding? It would be a pain in the ass."
UPDATE: A reader points out another instance of infighting on the Dem side: OH SEN. Sec/State Jennifer Brunner appeared very reluctant to campaign for Lt. Gov. and Dem nominee Lee Fisher following the primary. Brunner did reportedly eventually come around, but she appeared very reluctant to do anything on behalf of Fisher.
Why sign on to muddy one's good reputation if the "winner" is, in fact, a fraud and promoted self for Power At Any Price...thus "winning".