PJ Media

I live just across the border in Maryland and the argument here in Castle vs. O’Donnell is very similar to the Maryland Republicans fighting out our governor’s race – supposedly the moderate Bob Ehrlich is the only “electable” candidate as opposed to the much more conservative Brian Murphy. Our state party even went so far as to request a waiver of the RNC’s Rule 11 so Ehrlich could get the national party’s support before our primary next week (same day as Delaware’s.) So I have experience in dealing with a similar situation.

Voters in Delaware should vote for the best candidate – if I were in the First State I would likely support O’Donnell despite the state GOP’s best efforts to smear her. Even if she loses, getting a significant amount of the vote sends a message to Mike Castle and the state Republican Party that Castle will have to earn the support of former O’Donnell voters or else they will stay home. But if she gets less than 1/3 or so of the vote Castle can safely blow off that part of the electorate and fight with the leftist Chris Coons by pandering to that crowd, figuring enough R’s will be loyal for him to win.

That’s the sort of message which needs to get through to moderate Republicans. Certainly I’d like to win elections as a Republican who’s active in the party but I can’t stomach selling out my principles to do so. Once in awhile I do skip the GOP candidate when he or she hasn’t done enough to earn my trust.