GOP Senators Furious With DeMint

Jim DeMint is not a popular man on Capitol Hill right now. Senate Republicans are furious with the South Carolina senator for helping Tea Partiers like Christine O’Donnell oust eminently more electable candidates around the country, the Hill reports. “If on Nov. 3 there are two or three seats in Democratic control that otherwise would have been Republican victories … there will be consequences,” said one aide. Another agreed: “The feeling is definitely that DeMint is not helping.”

Republican senators confronted DeMint yesterday in a closed-door meeting, according to Politico. Scott Brown complained that the party was sending a message that there was no room for moderates. Several pressed DeMint to pony up funds from his own PAC to fund O’Donnell’s campaign. DeMint readily agreed, but he must not be optimistic about her prospects, because afterward he accidentally walked into a room full of lobbyists and announced, “Republicans are not prepared to take over the Senate.” For more on DeMint, click here.
(More Jim DeMint stories.)