Will Michael Steele Really Go To War Against The GOP's Last 3 Moderate Senators?

Because they make DeMint, Vitter & Burr look like neo-Nazis

My closest friend is from Maine. He's been in L.A. for more than half his life but I still hear the Maine weather report from him nearly every day. He'll always be a Mainer. This morning I read him a claim from one of the GOP's most extremist right-wing blogs that Arlen Specter, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe are "the three least popular politicians in America right now among the base." Here's his response:

Obama did well in Maine. He took 58% of the vote and beat McCain in every single county except Piscataquis which has a population density of 4 people per square mile. And 98% of the folks there are white. It's the most backward and most Republican county in Maine, was the only county anywhere in New England McCain won and he barely even won that county, Obama coming closer in Piscataquis than any Democrat I can remember; McCain beat him by only 4%, less than half of Bush's margin over Kerry. Meanwhile the Democrats had a popular and well-respected candidate for Susan Collins' Senate seat, Tom Allen, running a well-financed campaign. Not only was her margin of victory (61%) greater than Obama's, more people voted for her than for Obama! (421,484 Mainers voted for Obama and 444,587 voted for Collins.) Meanwhile, Olympia Snowe is the most popular politician in the state and her role in the Stimulus fight made her more popular, not less popular; same for Collins. I don't know who this Allahpundit guy is but he doesn't know squat about Maine. And I'm not sure what "base" he's talking about. People in South Carolina and Texas who want to fight the Civil War over again? Remind him who Joshua Chamberlain was, what failure at Little Round Top meant for the rebels' cause, and where he came from.

The context of Allahpundit's post was an interview with RNC chair Michael Steele saying he'd be open to withholding funds from the three non-obstructionist Republican senators in retribution for their breaking the de facto right wing filibuster of Obama's Stimulus Bill. (Maybe he should check in with Karl Rove before he makes any decisions like that.)

I doubt that will be on voters' minds, other than a few Ann Coulter/Rush Limbaugh fans', when Collins comes up again in 2014. Snowe won her three Senate races with 60% (1994), 69% (2000), and 74% (2006) in a Democratic state. I don't think she's worried about some so-called "base" of lunatic fringe neo-fascists in rural Georgia.

Meanwhile a successful right-wing primary against Arlen Specter, who is somewhat vulnerable in a shrunken and shriveled Pennsylvania Republican Party that has shed most of its moderates and is now way out of the mainstream, would be incredible news for the Democrats, especially if they're smart enough to run Bethelhem's progressive young mayor, John Callahan. But the most credible rightist among the base is former congressman Pat Toomey-- who already challenged Specter in a Republican primary and lost and now heads the neo-fascist Club For Growth and says he's not going to run against Specter again. More likely they'll get stuck with some colorless right-wing hack like Rep. Bill Shuster or Hate Talk Radio host Glen Meakem, either of whom Specter will wipe the floor with.