Santorum Down, Toomey Up

David Weigel | November 8, 2006

Lost in the election haze is some good news for tax-cutters: the Club for Growth had a decent night. Club candidates Bill Sali, Tim Walberg, Jim Jordan, Doug Lamborn, Michelle Bachmann and Adrian Smith all won their races, albeit narrowly, representing a healthy rightward shift in the shrunken GOP caucus. (Although Sali makes a lousy replacement for Gov.-elect Butch Otter.) The races the club lost - open swing seats, attempts to take over Democratic Senate seats - were never going to be won anyway. And the Republicans' expensive rearguard effort to defend Lincoln Chafee from a Club challenge looks like a major-league oops right now.

Here's hoping the Club's congressmen remember who brought them to the dance on leadership election day.