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Stealth Castle sneaks into GOP meeting in Delaware's most conservative
countyBy: MARK TAPSCOTT<http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/bios/mark-tapscott.html>
Editorial Page Editor
08/10/10 7 <tel:08/10/10%207>:26 PM EDT

He wasn't on the official agenda, but Rep. Mike Castle, R-DE, who is seeking
the GOP nomination to succeed Joe Biden in the U.S. Senate, slipped quietly
into a Republican meeting Monday evening, spoke a few minutes, then
departed.

That might not rate notice except for the fact Castle wants to be Delaware's
next U.S. Senator, and the meeting was in Georgetown, a key city in
Delaware's Sussex County, the most conservative of the Small Wonder State's
trio of counties.

The official agenda listed such speakers as "The Honorable William S.Lee,"
"Senator Joe Booth," and some candidates for state legislative offices. But
no mention of Castle.

Castle is in an unexpectedly heated primary contest with Tea Party favorite
Christine O'Donnell, who received 35 percent of the vote as the GOP nominee
against Biden in 2008.

Castle leads O'Donnell in the polls and also is favored to defeat likely
Democratic nominee Chris Coons. So why would Castle keep a low profile in an
area that ought to be vote-rich territory for a Republican?

The answer may be that Castle really isn't much of a Republican. As The
Examiner's Byron
Yorkpointed<http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/A-battle-between-Left-and-Right----inside-the-GOP-1004524-99585124.html>
out
in July, "in 2008, he received a rating of 28 (out of 100) from the American
Conservative Union, while receiving a rating of 65 from the liberal
Americans for Democratic Action."

Castle even co-sponsored the DISCLOSE Act authored by Sen. Chuck Schumer,
D-NY, and Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-MD, which would have effectively repealed
the Supreme Court's landmark Citizens United vs FEC decision that killed
campaign finance laws barring political advocacy and contributions by
corporations and unions.

The contest to succeed Biden is not a regularly scheduled Senate election,
but rather a special ballot to serve the remaining four years of Biden's
term. That means the winner will be sworn in the day after the election and
be able to vote in any lame duck Senate session.

That's why O'Donnell told York that if Castle wins the Sept. 14 primary and
is victorious in the general election in November, he will be able to vote
with Democrats in a lame duck session.

"Republicans have to decide, who do they want serving in that lame duck
session? Do they want Mike Castle, who voted for cap and trade, voted for
TARP, voted for cash for clunkers, or do they want a true
constitutionalist?" she said.

O'Donnell's campaign has been hobbled by accusations arising from her past
financial circumstances, but Delaware Tea Party activists attending a
Washington, D.C. training seminar Sunday told *The Examiner* she remains
popular among their colleagues back home.

But Castle may be thinking about the fact insurgent GOPer Sharron Angle came
from nowhere to win the Nevada Senate GOP nod earlier this year, largely on
the strength of aroused Tea Party activists like those at the Sunday
training session. Maybe Castle's low profile reflected his fear of stirring
them up in Sussex County and exposing himself to another Tea Party ambush?


Eric D. Schwerin
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com

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