CRAZY IN, CRAZY OUT:

Maes Gives Some Colo. Tea Partiers Pause (Stephanie Simon, 9/03/10, WSJ)

In Colorado, however, some leading tea-party activists are beginning to have second thoughts about political rookies. [...]

Maes has had trouble following campaign finance law to the letter – he was assessed a $17,500 fine, a state record, for violations – and some of his statements to the press have raised eyebrows. Last week, Maes lost the endorsements of party elders and many tea-party activists after he told the Denver Post he may have misrepresented his law-enforcement background on his online biography.

It was all enough to make tea-party activist Janet Rowland doubt the wisdom of putting political novices on a pedestal.

“This is eye-opening to those who believe that having no political history makes you squeaky clean – because it doesn’t,” said Rowland, who is herself an elected official, a county commissioner in western Colorado. “You get someone who hasn’t been vetted, doesn’t have a voting record and you don’t know much about him.”

Nikki Mata, another tea-party leader who withdrew her endorsement of Maes, said at the very least, political newcomers must surround themselves with veteran advisers – distasteful as that may be to some activists who long for a clean break with the political elite.

“The key is to know what you don’t know and to surround yourself with people who do know,” Mata said.

Christie backs Castle (PHILIP ELLIOTT, 09/04/2010, AP)

Republican Gov. Chris Christie, who rode voter anger to office in New Jersey last year, is endorsing Mike Castle’s bid to win the GOP primary in Delaware and is joining a pack of party leaders trying to block a tea party-backed candidate’s bid.

Christie, a graduate of the University of Delaware, endorsed Castle, a nine-term Republican congressman and former governor who is facing Christine O’Donnell. Republicans have rushed to paint O’Donnell as a fraud, citing shady financial records and a record of statements that are clearly not true.

How did these folks look at one of their own rallies and think they should be governing America?

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 4, 2010 2:24 PM