The mother of all Tea Party triumphs?

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The mother of all Tea Party triumphs?
A paranoid debtor who equates lust with adultery is on the verge of a victory that will cost the GOP dearly
By Steve Kornacki

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Two realities have increasingly become clear as this year's midterm Senate campaigns have taken shape. One is that enough seats are in play to give Republicans, who didn't even have the numbers to mount a filibuster on their own a year ago, a Senate majority. The other is that the Tea Party movement -- which essentially represents the disgruntled base of the GOP -- has forced enough fringe candidates on the party in enough marginal races to jeopardize the GOP's chances of fully capitalizing on what is a very favorable political climate.

And now, the Republican establishment's Tea Party-induced headaches may be about to get worse -- much, much worse. A stunning new poll released Sunday night finds Christine O'Donnell, a far-right gadfly and chronic debtor who has accused her political opponents of following her home and hiding in the bushes and who has equated lust with adultery, now running three points ahead of Rep. Michael Castle, a nine-term congressman and former two-term governor, in a GOP Senate race that will be settled this Tuesday. O'Donnell, previously known only for waging a series of hopeless, quixotic campaigns, has caught fire in the last few weeks, thanks largely to the Tea Party Express, which has poured money into the state on her behalf, and to a late endorsement from Sarah Palin.

The national implications of a O'Donnell victory on Tuesday would be stark: All of a sudden, a race that Democrats had written off as lost -- even Vice President Joe Biden's son was intimidated out of the race by the moderate Castle and his perceived general election invulnerability -- would be theirs for the taking. Until now, every Senate calculation has listed Delaware as a slam dunk pick-up for the GOP. But O'Donnell would make an absurdly easy mark for Democrat Chris Coons, the county official who entered the race when Beau Biden refused to. In essence, Tuesday's primary is a choice for Republicans between victory and defeat in November -- and they seem to be leaning toward defeat.

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What is clear is that if O'Donnell does prevail, it will represent the Tea Party's most destructive (to the GOP) triumph yet.

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http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/09/12/tea_party_delaware_new_hampshire/index.html