Christine O’Donnell burst into the political spotlight after her shock win as the Delaware Republican candidate in the upcoming mid term elections. Her win was also a breakthrough for the Tea Party movement which has sent waves through US politics in the last couple of months.
O’Donnell has had success with online and other grass-roots funding for her campaign, but larger mainstream Republican donors have quietly closed their doors to the outspoken candidate, who is more often in the headlines for controversy than for policy.
While the Tea Party movement has certainly bolstered the Republican efforts at these elections, the two groups are walking a fine line with one another, and very often do not see eye to eye. O’Donnell’s controversy, outspokenness and ultra-conservative views have often caused more central Republicans to shy away from an association, which many feel is reflected in the closed check-books of donors.
Advocates insists that the matter is not a shunning of O’Donnell, rather a financial triage, where more knife-edge campaigns, such as in Colorado, have been given priority over O’Donnell’s race, in which she lags behind her opponent Chris Coons by between 10 to 15 points.
Donors have insisted that the lack of funding heading O’Donnell’s way is nothing personal, but that her lack of real competitiveness means they see her as a lost cause.
O’Donnell, who last week said in an offhand comment that she was “still fighting” her own party, has effectively been categorized as a leaking vessel, and left to sink.
