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February 25, 2009

Will Steele punish Specter over stimulus vote?

RNC chairman Michael Steele raised some eyebrows this week when he indicated he was open to withholding national party support from and encouraging party primaries against the three Republican senators who voted for the stimulus package.

When pressed on the matter by Neil Cavuto of Fox News, Steele said he was “always open to anything, baby,” but also said a decision on “retribution” would be made by voters in individual states, as well as the Republican parties in the two affected states, Pennsylvania and Maine.

As the Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder notes, only Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania will be on the ballot in 2010. Specter has a long reputation of moderation in some issues, and will certainly face a tough Democratic challenger (Chris Matthews of MSNBC looked at the race but has apparently decided against running). Whether there is a Republican insurrection as well just north of the Maryland border will be an important test of how the stimulus package is playing among both parties as Obama’s term unfolds.

Posted by David Nitkin at 12:52 PM | | Comments (3)
        

Comments

Maybe the bigger question is: Does Chris Matthews say "Ohhhh, Goooood" before Steele speaks too? (See Drudgereport-linked audio before Jindal spoke).

Will Steele punish Specter.... does he need to? Specter barely pulled it out in '04 against Toomey.

Posted by: Andres | February 25, 2009 4:56 PM

Yes, Michael Steele is indeed stoopid enough to try and oust Specter from his senate seat, baby!
He'll curry favor with the Club for Growth purists and let a challenger take down Specter, guarenteeing the seat will turn over to the Dems and make the Republicans in the Senate even more irrelevant. After all this kind of strategery worked so well in Md-1 with Gilcrest being ousted, Steele must 'think', "yeah, Baby, thats the ticket".

Specter is the Rep Party's only hope to hold that seat, so I am reasonably sure that Steele is "thinking" that way.

The Repubs now are all anger, minimal tactics and no overall strategy-thats what comes of 8 yrs of Bush worship.
Oh, my God-the GOP is in real trouble! We might yet save The Republic with these fellows continued slide into irrelevance.

Posted by: Tonyjoe | February 26, 2009 10:06 AM

I pray every night he does.

Posted by: Carole | February 26, 2009 10:39 AM

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About the bloggers
Laura Smitherman has been ensconced in the State House basement, writing about the governor, General Assembly and vagaries of Maryland politics for several years. An erstwhile business reporter, her interest in politics dates to her days in Washington when she covered Congress and national campaigns for another media outlet. She now follows a range of policy debates from slot-machine gambling to universal health care and energy regulation, while keeping an eye on the next election.

Paul West covers Washington for The Baltimore Sun, continuing a tradition that began the month the paper was born, in 1837. He hasn't been in the DC bureau that long--only since Ronald Reagan was president. He's covered Congress, the White House and presidential campaigns as the paper's national political correspondent and Washington bureau chief. He's on the lookout for news of significance to Sun readers at the other end of the B/W Parkway. That includes the activities of the state's congressional delegation and anything else that might shed some light on the inner workings of the nation's capital.

Julie Bykowicz's first days as a political reporter, in January 2009, coincided with Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon's indictment and the start of the Maryland General Assembly's 426th legislative session. She focuses on coverage of state agencies, such as social services, juvenile justice and prisons. During the session, she wrote about the death penalty, slots parlors and speed cameras, among other hot topics. Julie began political reporting after more than seven years on The Baltimore Sun's crime desk. She lives in Baltimore and works primarily in Annapolis.

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