The Club for Growth Had a Better 2006 Election Cycle Than Most to the Right of Center
The results are pretty good, but it does go downhill after the first point:
- 8 of 11 backed in their House primaries won. 7 of those 8 won in the general election.
- Steve Laffey lost the RI US Senate primary to Lincoln “Chapstick” Chafee, who in turn lost in the general.
- Ken Blackwell was backed and won the OH gov primary nomination, but lost in the general.
- 2 of 5 other House members who were only backed during the general election won.
- 4 of 5 other Senators who were only backed during the general election lost (Steele, Bouchard, Allen, McGavick). Two of the four had to be considered longshots from the start.
Compared to how some other conservative orgs did, CFG can hold its head high, especially for the House members they took through from the primaries to the finish line. It has gotten more selective since its June 2005 debacle (see second item at post; also see the fourth “Loser” at this post) in Ohio’s Second District GOP congressional primary.
