Internal conflicts are a sign of a growing political party, I think. So the strong divisions emerging in the Republican primary race for 4th District Congress can be seen as a sign of robust Republicanism. It also is fun to watch them chomping on each other.
For example: Today, a Tea Party cell of some sort endorsed Tom Cotton, the born-again Arkie who set up camp recently at a family property in Yell County so as to allow Arkie voters to send his wonderful self back to the Washington he just left as 4th District congressman. He’s raised a pot of money from out of state.
That produced a mailing to me of a copy of a long letter of protest sent by another putative Tea Partyer, Amber Sloan, to a national Tea Party strategist about the Cotton endorsement in the Republican primary. The ‘baggers endorsed Beth Anne Rankin two years ago, Sal Russo noted in response to Sloan, but is looking for the strongest candidates nationwide.
As when Cotton claimed the Club for Growth endorsement, I’d suggest Rankin could help herself by differentiating herself a tiny bit from the extremists of the Tea Party and the Club for Growth. Are all Republican primary voters in the 4th District really that extreme?
Anyway, following is the bill of particulars offered up against the TP endorsement by Ms. Sloan. It’s harshly personal (and factually short of perfect — Cotton’s home is on the south side of I-40, I’m reasonably sure, for example):