Conservative Group Sets Sights on Chafee

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/bw-elect/2006/aug/11/081104071.html

Fresh off their first victory over a Republican incumbent, GOP conservatives seeking party purity on taxes and spending are focused on ousting moderate Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island.

The Club for Growth and its 36,000 members spent around $1 million to help challenger Tim Walberg unseat first-term Rep. Joe Schwarz in Michigan's Republican primary on Tuesday. The win came despite Schwarz's support from President Bush and the National Rifle Association.

Since its inception in 1999, the group has spent millions to help dozens of conservative Republicans win seats in Congress - often at the expense of more moderate party members. The Club's president, former Rep. Pat Toomey, nearly defeated Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter in 2004.

This year, the group's top priority is defeating Chafee, who angered many Republicans by voting against President Bush's tax cuts and then casting a write-in vote for the president's father in the last election. The Club has helped Cranston, R.I., Mayor Stephen Laffey raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to unseat Chafee, and polls show the two Republicans running even a month before the Sept. 12 primary.

<more>

You never know!

:eyes:

I wonder if all the pundits who called Lamont's win a takeover of the "left-wing loonies", will call this a purge by the righty wing-nuts? Of course they won't. They will play it down or ignore it. But this is far more dangerous for the Rethugs than Lamont's victory is for the Dems. CT is safely blue, while a lose for Chafee will likely mean the Dems picking up Rhode Island's seat. I can't wait!

or would they rather vote for a Democrat?

Lots of moderate Republicans already feel deserted by their party because they are embracing religious extremists and fanatical flat-earthers