The Stakes In Today’s Primaries: Go Tea Partiers!

by Stuart Shapiro

There are a bunch of fun primaries today including Charlie Rangel’s attempt to hang on to his seat in New York, but make no mistake, the action today is in the Republican Senate primaries in Delaware and New Hampshire.  In both races, establishment candidates, Rep. Mike Castle in Delaware and New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly Ayotte, are trying to hold off tea party-supported insurgents who could cost Republicans good shots at the Senate seats in November.  Nate Silver:

Wins by the insurgents in both states would drop GOP chances of taking the Senate in half.  And I think Silver underestimates the “wait until the public gets to know the crazy candidate” factor that is currently dropping Sharon Angle’s numbers in Nevada.  So from a Democrat’s perspective, go O’Donnell and Lamontagne!

By: Stuart Shapiro

Stuart is a professor and the Director of the Public Policy
program at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers
University. He teaches economics and cost-benefit analysis and studies
regulation in the United States at both the federal and state levels.
Prior to coming to Rutgers, Stuart worked for five years at the Office
of Management and Budget in Washington under Presidents Clinton and
George W. Bush.