‘Tea party’ brings GOP politics to a boil

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Former U.S. ambassador to Germany Dan Coats vies for the Republican nomination for Indiana’s Senate seat Tuesday, in a race seen as a test for the conservative ‘tea party’ movement and Republican prospects in the November election.

Republican leaders recruited Coats, a former senator and former lobbyist, in the hopes he could capture a seat now held by a Democrat. But he is fighting four other candidates, including tea party favorite state Sen. Marlin Stutzman.

Coats is one of several prominent Republican candidates nationwide denounced by tea party activists as Washington insiders. The Indiana primary could offer an indication about whether the widely publicized movement can have an effect at the ballot box.

“I think most of that is more of the ‘let’s throw all the rascals out regardless of who they are and where they’ve been’ kind of thing,” former Indiana Republican chairman Mike McDaniel said.

Republicans are expected to score large gains in both chambers of Congress. But its prospects could be damaged if the party is divided between supporters of mainstream Republicans, like Coats, and tea party activists.

Longtime Sen. John McCain, the party’s 2008 presidential nominee, appears to be shifting more to the right as he faces a challenger in the primary for his seat in Arizona. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has avoided the primary showdown against more conservative contender Marco Rubio, opting to run as an independent in November elections.

The stakes are high for Coats, who had been out of office 12 years when he decided to challenge Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh. The Republican Party had hoped to capitalize on what was expected to be a bad year for incumbents and specifically Democrats, but the race was turned upside down when Bayh decided to not seek re-election. Democrat Brad Ellsworth, currently a member of the U.S. House, is assured the party’s nomination.

Among other primary races on Tuesday were an open Senate seat in Ohio and the Democratic race for a challenger to North Carolina Sen. Richard M. Burr, as the states kick off a wave of primaries during the next several months.

-- Associated Press