The New Adventure of Old Christine

Until recently, the Delaware senate seat vacated by Joe Biden received little attention. That changed this past Tuesday when nine-term congressman Mike Castle, the longest serving Representative in Delaware history, was defeated by Tea Party backed contender Christine O'Donnell. The upset adds Mr. Castle to the growing list of incumbents ousted by a candidate that had the support of the ultra right leaning "grassroots” movement.

Interestingly enough, while Ms. O’Donnell is seen by her supporters as an outsider, she may be anything but. Though not well known on the national stage, locally that's hardly the case. She has campaigned for the Delaware Senate seat 3 times in the last 5 years - essentially making her what some call a professional republican candidate. This alone might seem suspect enough, but the characterization is compounded by incendiary statements made by her own staffers. Former campaign manager Kristin Murray was quoted as saying of Ms. O’Donnell "she was living off campaign donations" and is "not a legitimate conservative, but in fact was just looking to make a buck."

But even with this apparent backbiting, perhaps the strangest development on an otherwise unremarkable GOP primary night is the backlash from establishment party members - in a party widely known for presenting a united front.

Prior to the election, Tom Ross, chair of the Delaware State GOP told the LA Times that "Sadly, Christine's just not really a legitimate candidate in Delaware." Sen. John Cornyn, head of the NRSC, charged with the task of getting Republicans elected and re-elected to Senate, called an O’Donnell challenge to a Democrat in November “a serious issue” and asked that, in the event of an O’Donnell primary victory, funding be pulled from the Delaware senatorial race.

If the establishment GOP appeared hostile prior to primary night, those feelings only intensified in its wake. In a move uncharacteristic of a defeated primary challenger, Mr. Castle stated that he would not be endorsing his opponent. Speaking of Ms. O'Donnell, a senior aide to the Congressman told Politico "she is a con artist who won by lying about Mike Castle's positions and her own life."

After the results were in and all that remained was for Mr. Castle to concede, Fox News started in on analysis of the race. In an interview on the network’s program Hannity, Karl Rove - referred to as "Bush's brain" and widely credited as the architect of the 2000 and 2004 presidential victories - aggressively questioned Ms. O'Donnell’s past on a myriad of issues, including the time frame in which she received her bachelor’s degree, an IRS inquiry into unpaid taxes, the foreclosure on a house she owned, and how she had provided for herself over the last 5 years. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Hannity defended the primary victor and questioned Mr. Rove’s apparent lack of support for a fellow conservative.

In regard to the past referenced by Mr. Rove, it appears that prior to her role as professional candidate, Ms. O'Donnell was the founder and president of an organization called The S.A.L.T (The Savior's Alliance for Lifting the Truth). In that capacity she acted as a full time advocate on behalf of many ultra conservative positions. Some topics on which she made her views known included:

Women in the Military: “By integrating women into particularly military institutes, it cripples the readiness of our defense.”… “West Point has had to lower their standards in order for men and women to compete"…"You will cripple the defense of our country if you lower the standards at all."

University Accommodations: She has spoken out against "co-ed floors" and "co-ed bathrooms" at colleges, stating "what’s next? orgy rooms? ménage a trios rooms?"

Contraception and Disease Prevention: Aside from referring to condoms as “anti-human”, she also stated "condoms will not protect you from AIDS. The federal government should not be telling young people to use condoms. It's also an insult to teenagers, reducing them to the level of a dog that can't control its hormones."

Masturbation: “Lust in our hearts is committing adultery. You can’t masturbate without lust.”

Aside from her keenly articulated opinions on sex, self abuse and the housing choices of college students, she also believes that global warming is an elaborate scam. This disclosure is relevant for two reasons: first, the view that humans have little to no effect on changes in the environment is a commonly held one among Tea Party members and the candidates they support. And the corollary, that as Mr. Castle exits the race, so goes the last republican senate candidate that believed in the existence of climate change. To encapsulate that notion: EVERY republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2010 is a global warming denier.

But despite a barrage of criticism, some legitimate and some likely bitterness brought on by the defeat of an establishment candidate, Ms. O’Donnell may represent an entirely new breed of politician - one who is candid about a matter on which many others would obfuscate: when asked if she would send out 8x10 bikini pictures of herself to attract “blue collar voters”, she was quoted as saying “I’m not concerned with the reason you vote for me as long as you vote for me.”