Feeling victorious after a win in Alaska, the Tea Party Express has landed in Wilmington, Delaware. They're mobilizing to help boost conservative Christine O'Donnell to victory in the Republican primary against long time moderate Congressman Mike Castle. The winner of the primary will square off against Democrat Chris Coons in the general election for the U.S. Senate seat once held by Vice President Joe Biden.
Perhaps most important for O'Donnell, the Tea Party Express comes bearing money... in the form of six figures. In fact, the group plans to start airing radio and TV ads by the end of the week (or early next week). O'Donnell has been unable to raise enough money to compete with Castle's healthy war chest. The primary is September 14th.
O'Donnell, who works as a marketing consultant, ran for Senate in 2008 against then Sen. Joe Biden. Castle has been a member of the House of Representatives since the early 90's and is a Republican institution.
It's a race worth watching because the winner will be seated as a member of the U.S. Senate immediately (they won't have to wait until January like most other new senators). That means he or she will have a vote in a lame duck session of congress... a session some members have promised will be active and potentially controversial.
Beltway Buzz caught up with O'Donnell to talk about the race. Rep. Castle was not immediately available for an interview.