Last week, Charlie Cook gave us the following bit of gossip:
A fellow who oversees lobbying in all 50 states for a major corporation recently told me about a certain Republican U.S. senator up for re-election in 2010, someone generally regarded as fairly conservative who might face a serious challenge from a very conservative fellow Republican. The incumbent has not been tainted by scandal, has never embarrassed himself by making a major mistake, is highly regarded in Washington, and is considered a very effective senator.
Blake Aued of the Athens Banner-Herald’s blog speculates that Cook may have caught wind of a brewing battle between GOP Rep. Paul Broun and Sen. Johnny Isakson:
Team Broun denies that their man is looking to move up. But Broun recently hired a new chief of staff and communications director – giving him a three-person press team, unusually large for a back-bench congressman – and has ambitions to become a national figure. And one usually reliable source told me that Broun has already informed Isakson he’s coming after him in 2010.
This sounds like it could be pretty plausible — Broun never endeared himself to the Georgia GOP establishment, and had to endure a primary challenge in 2008, so he may be just the kind of guy who’d be inclined to move on up in a fratricidal primary. A notoriously controversial dude, Broun may just be nutty enough to actually do this.
If Whitehead hadn’t encouraged Bin Laden to nuke Athens, he’d be in congress for as long as he wanted.
Isakson, but thought it’d be Governor Perdue looking to stay powerful that did it. Broun doesn’t have a chance.
just in case Broun actually wins the primary? I can’t imagine Broun doing well in the Atlanta area with his intemperate remarks.
than Broun. With a fissure opeing between the GOP establishment and its conservative base, I would expect credible challengers to emerge in more than just Isakson’s reelection race in GA.
During last weeks speculative thread, I picked Isakson, and said that the challenge was likeliest to come from Broun.
I hope my predictive powers are this on point when I get to Vegas this weekend!!
🙂
It makes sense. Broun is something of an accidental congressman, having only been elected because dissatisfied righties created a bizarre coalition with lefties in order to shaft the establishment GOP candidate.
Ergo, he is not in any way, shape, or form invested in making the Georgia state GOP happy. Plus, he is something of a weird duck, and probably assumes that God has ordained him to be a Senator.
Go for it. Sounds just right.
He’s got the conservative profile necessary to win statewide, yet we would almost certainly hold his house seat (it even voted for Kerry, and of course favored Obama by a sizable amount). We’d probably get a more progressive representative out of it as well.
If Isakson is weakened by a primary challenge it’s almost inexcusable to give him a pass. Jim Martin, a state representative, came within 3% of knocking off a US senator. It can be done in Georgia.