◼ Last fall, it looked like more than a few members of the celebrated House GOP class of 2010 wouldn’t even make it through the primaries, let alone win in November. There was talk of them being sellouts and rumors of primary challenges. - Politico
But it turns out the Washington outsiders were a little better at the inside game than they were given credit for.
All 29 of the Republican rookies — one-third of the freshman class — whose states have held primaries have won. In many cases, they steamrolled little-known foes; in other cases, they drew no opponent at all....
The primary season is still in its opening stages, and Republican campaign officials are quick to point out that some rookies aren’t out of the primary danger zone yet. At the top of the risk list is Tennessee Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, who’s facing a race against two well-funded GOP opponents, one of whom is the son of his predecessor.
And for many freshmen, the bigger hurdle is November, when they are expected to come under fierce attack from Democratic rivals. Democrats are gunning for an array of Republican freshmen, including some who represent areas where President Barack Obama is expected to perform strongly.
But the ability of freshmen to ward off primary threats shows they’ve succeeded in convincing many conservatives that they accomplished what they set out to do: bring spending issues to the forefront of the political debate and, in the process, shift the GOP agenda sharply to the right.
