Did You Know...

GOP 8-term incumbent Mike Castle a no-show at a recent Delaware voter forum. Conservative challenger Christine O’Donnell on the right.

I’ve said it before and Republican voters need to hear it again:

Entrenched incumbency is not an argument for more entrenched incumbency.

Remember these cap-and-tax Republicans?

Photoshop credit: Leo Alberti

Well, 70-year-old, nine-term House cap-and-taxer GOP Rep. Mike Castle has a challenger. She’s Christine O’Donnell — a young, energetic, fresh-faced conservative activist with a real shot at dislodging the entrenched liberal Republican. She’s been traveling the state of Delaware non-stop and reaching out to conservatives across the country for support. I met her on Saturday at a grass-roots gathering of Moms 4 America in Washington, D.C. Castle refuses to debate her and has resorted to sneaking in and out of local GOP meetings to avoid her. He has bagged out on four scheduled GOP primary debates, most recently one sponsored by the League of Women Voters. The establishment Republican fund-raising organizations are sticking by their big government brother.

Check out the side-by-side comparison of Castle’s tax-and-spend views with O’Donnell’s opposition to radical environmental policies and bailouts. Compare Castle’s weak support for life and personal liberty with O’Donnell’s unqualified support for life and 2nd amendment rights.

Most recently, Castle joined hands with the Dems to co-sponsor the left-wing, loophole-ridden DISCLOSE ACT — a jobs-protection bill for entrenched incumbents under the guise of campaign finance reform that places radical free speech restrictions on disfavored groups while exempting Big Labor and other protected big donors.

Nine terms are enough.

The stakes are raised — not just for Delaware, but for the nation — because this is a special election for VP Joe Biden’s Senate seat. The next Senator from Delaware will serve the remaining four years of Biden’s term. Which means he or she will be seated immediately after election and will be in place to vote in any lame duck Senate session.

Eco-czar Carol Browner has already raised the threat of ramming through cap-and-tax in the lame duck session. Jeff Poor digs deeper into Castle’s pro-cap-and-tax support:

It’s not as simple as labeling Castle a greenie, tree-hugging Republican, but more along the line of the interests supporting the nine-term congressman. As Delaware’s former governor, Castle has a pattern of looking after the banking industry, a major component of the state’s economy. He did this first as public servant in state government, but more recently in Congress as a member of the House Financial Services Committee.

Should cap-and-trade be signed into law, it would place limits on carbon emissions, and as National Center for Public Policy Research’s Tom Borelli says, it would lead to “the creation of the largest commodity market in the world.” Borelli adds that the Commodities Futures Trading Commission estimates a $2-trillion futures market would be created “in relatively short order,” which he says would be larger than the futures market for oil and gas.

An entire new trading market created out of thin air? It’s no wonder Castle would be on board. Wall Street firms would stand to profit off of each transaction made in on such an exchange. So the immediate benefits of cap-and-trade for the banking industry would certainly outweigh any long-term concerns it may present the industry for the overall economy.

… Take a look at Castle’s campaign contributors. The Delaware congressman has been a favorite of the banking industry when it comes time to filling campaign coffers. According to the Center for Responsive Politics website OpenSecrets.org, since his election to Congress in 1992, three of Castle’s top five contributors have been from the banking industry — MBNA Corp (acquired by Bank of America in 2006), Bank of America and Morgan Stanley. And 10 of his top 20 contributors were banking firms.

As things stand now, Reid has demonstrated he has been able to break filibuster by peeling off a few votes for cloture, in particular Massachusetts’s Scott Brown and Maine’s Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. But with the departure of Sen. Ted Kaufmann, the current Delaware junior senator, the Democratic leadership will either have to find one more vote to get legislation through in this lame-duck session, or they have to find one less vote, particularly on cap-and-trade, if Castle wins the race.

So why would Mike Castle be dangerous in a 2010 lame-duck session of the U.S. Senate with cap-and-trade legislation on the table? The answer is pretty obvious.

The primary is September 14. While cap-and-tax, duck-and-hide, nine-term Castle hopes to coast to victory, O’Donnell and her campaign are working non-stop to earn votes and support. She deserves yours. ASAP.

Help send a message to imperial, big government GOP incumbents in Washington: Unlike the banks you keep bailing out, you are not too big to fail.

***

More info:

O’Donnell on the Mark Levin Show in June.

Boot Mike Castle website.

Castle embraces RINO support from Michael Bloomberg.