Did the teabaggers get the shaft in the 2010 election?
Early in 2010, a Repub by the name of Dan Benishek ( a doctor in a small town who never held political office before) decided to run against incumbent Bart Stupak. Few paid any attention to Benishek until Stupak made national news and especially when he, Stupak, decided to vote in favor of the HCR bill. Donations began to flow into Benishek's campaign. When Stupak announced he wasn't going to run for re-election and the seat went from safe Dem to toss up, it looked like Benishek might have a chance. However, the state Repub leadership wanted a more mainstream candidate instead of teabagger favorite Benishek so they put up another candidate to vie for the nomination. Benishek very narrowly won the nomination with the help of the teabagger movement and endorsements from Sarah Palin and Ted Nugent. He then went on to win the general easily.
However, since he's been in office, Benishek has become a "rank and file" Repub according to the govtrack.us website and that's based on his voting record, bills he's introduced and bills he's co-sponsored. I know the teabbagers in this district are mighty pissed of at Benishek. They thought they were campaigning and voting for a candidate that would fight for their beliefs and what they got was a run of the mill Republican.
I'm curious to find out if any members here have a representative who ran as a teabagger but once in office, changed or have they remained true to their teabagger base?
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