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Liz Lauber, a married, 43-year-old mother of one from Kirkwood, is challenging Todd Akin for the Republican nomination in CD 2 (West St. Louis County and St. Charles). She wants to offer Republicans a “clear choice” because he is not tea partyish enough.
Lauber, under the misapprehension that the term “tea party” refers to an occurrence in Boston in 1773 rather than to a meeting that Alice had with two insane but crafty animals in Wonderland, is pushing her t.p. bona fides by touting her contribution to the campaign of Doug Hoffman in NY 23. Hoffman is challenging the anointed Republican candidate, Dede Scozzafava, for a seat that has never gone to a Democrat–but that might possibly do so if Hoffman roils the waters enough. The New York tea partiers hate Scozzafava because she is soft on issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage, and taxes.
Akin isn’t soft on any of those issues. In fact, he bragged at Cynthia Davis’s town hall last week that he voted against the bank bailout under Bush, not to mention Obama’s stimulus package, of course. Still, Lauber asserts that: “‘Todd Akin calls himself a “conservative with a soft edge,” and I consider myself ‘an edgy conservative.'” I suppose anyone who’s been in D.C. since 2000 is liable to face the same insider charges that Purgason is aiming at Blunt and that Sarah Steelman threw at Hulshof. But still. Soft? Akin is about as soft as a piece of cloven granite. It should be interesting to see what an edgier-than-Akin candidate believes.
And in the meantime, we can rest assured that since Akin has a challenger from his right flank, Missouri has achieved, in my colleague Michael Bersin’s phrase, “peak wingnut.”
Liz Lauber’s self-ID as an “edgy” conservative may be more prescient than she realizes. The conservative era that began with Goldwater in the 60’s and came to maturity during the Reagan era has swung the pendulum of alternating national moods to its end point. There is no place for conservatives to go except “over the edge.” With any luck, Ms. Lauber will energize a large enough portion of Todd Akin’s base to divide the Repug vote and open the door for a solid Dem candidate as is happening in NY-23.
I’m both frightened and fascinated. Get the popcorn.
Many times it seems as though we will not be any better off with this person or that person in the end. This always seems to be the case. When it is different is when we will see real change.
has responded to Lauber’s challenge with a resounding “me too.” It seems to have earned him the approbation of the leading local teabagger looney, Bill Hennessy. As Sean notes:
My reaction exactly.
On a more serious note, however, one can only pray that Lauber will help to undercut Akin’s support if only by forcing him to expose himself a little more openly than he has in the past. The problem is, though, as someone noted in the comments, (1) getting a viable Democratic candidate who (2) can rely on support from the state organization. They seem to have decided to write off this district — after all, if they don’t have to contest it, life is just soooo much easier.