Feuding Hurts G.O.P.’s Hopes to Win Senate.

'In a number of states where Republicans have been hopeful of picking up a seat, they are being hampered by some of the same dynamics that vexed their party in 2008, including trouble recruiting strong and experienced candidates, intra-party fighting, weak fund-raising and the very same anti-incumbent sentiment that also threatens Democrats. . .

Winning the Senate is tantalizingly within reach for Republicans, who have just 10 seats up for re-election, compared with the 23 that Democrats will defend next year, many of them in states where Democrats barely won in strong years for their party. Powerful national political trends continue to favor Republicans, especially in a weak economy.

But on a state by state basis, there are factors that give the Democrats hope and the Republicans pause. In states like Nebraska, tensions between the Tea Party movement and so-called establishment factions of the party threaten to roil the base. Florida and Pennsylvania have muddled Republican primary fields, with multiple candidates and no real standouts.

In Michigan, where Republicans hope the ailing economy is its own case against Senator Debbie Stabenow, one Republican primary candidate, former Representative Peter Hoekstra, proved to be an underwhelming statewide candidate in a previous campaign for governor, and another, Clark Durant, is an untested charter school executive.

The story is similar in Ohio.'

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/us/politics/feuding-hurts-republicans-hopes-to-win-senate.html?hp

Recs without a Kick. ;-)