Delaware politicos: Don’t take O’Donnell lightly
0As pundits continue to decipher what the results of the Delaware Republican Senate primary actually mean, those on the ground stress Christine O'Donnell's victory over Congressman Mike Castle is no fluke.
Mitch Crane, president of Delaware Stonewall Democrats, told EDGE at Delaware Pride in Cape Henlopen State Park on Saturday, Sept. 18, O'Donnell's positions on marriage and homosexuality were among those that resonated particularly well with the state's socially conservative voters.
"She's extremely right wing on all issues, but there is a huge base," said Crane.
O'Donnell faced allegations she gay-baited Castle after the Las Vegas-based Liberty.com posted a newscast-like video that featured an off-camera woman asking the female presenter whether Castle had cheated on his wife with a man.
Politico further reported former O'Donnell spokesperson Yates Walker produced the clip after he began to work for Liberty.com. O'Donnell denied she or anyone on her campaign gay-baited Castle.
"Yates [Walker] doesn't work for my campaign anymore and I'm glad you brought that up because I think that's a very tacky approach," she told Dan Gaffney, a conservative talk show host on WGMD in Rehoboth Beach, during a contentious and often rambling interview on Sept. 2. "I never said that Mike Castle was gay. That's an insult to his wife Jane and an insult to Mike Castle... I do not endorse that type of mudslinging."
As EDGE previously reported, O'Donnell's has a track record of making anti-gay comments. She publicly objected to referring to people with HIV/AIDS as victims because she maintained those who live the virus brought it upon themselves. She also claimed gay ambassador James Hormel sympathized with pedophiles after former President Bill Clinton appointed him in 1999. And O'Donnell also has a lesbian sister.
The majority of O'Donnell supporters are concentrated in more conservative Kent and Sussex Counties in Delaware's downstate. She received roughly 57 percent of the vote in House District 14, which includes Rehoboth Beach; but more than 70 percent of Republican voters in House District 35, which includes Greenwood and Bridgeville in northwestern Sussex County, cast their ballots for O'Donnell. (This reporter saw O'Donnell campaign signs dotted along Route 16 from west of Broadkill Beach to the Maryland border over the previous weekend.)
House Majority Leader Pete Schwartzkopf [D-Rehoboth Beach] told EDGE while campaigning at Delaware Pride that anti-incumbent and anti-establishment sentiment also contributed to O'Donnell's primary victory
"It was a vote against Mike [Castle]," he said.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint [R-S.C.] and the Tea Party Express all endorsed O'Donnell. Amy Kremer, chair of the Tea Party Express, congratulated O'Donnell shortly after Castle conceded on Sept. 14.
"Christine O'Donnell overcame the entire political establishment to achieve victory tonight because she stood for the Constitutional conservative principles that voters are craving during this election cycle," said Kremer in a statement. "Christine kept her focus on the message of a return to a constitutionally limited government. That message will resonate with voters in November, just as strongly as it has today."
It remains unclear as to whether this momentum will allow O'Donnell to score a second upset against Chris Coons in November, but Crane cautioned his fellow Democrats to take O'Donnell seriously going into the general election.
"She's not a fool; she's not Sarah Palin; she's smarter than Sarah Palin," he said. "People should not take her lightly."