With political prognosticators increasingly convinced of a Republican takeover of Congress this fall, the highest ranks of the GOP have done their best to present a united front to voters.
In successive interviews this week, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) -- the caucus member seen as his philosophical antagonist -- both stressed that there won't be a battle for the leader's post in the next congressional session.
"First of all, I already have the votes to be re-elected as Republican leader, and will be re-elected," McConnell told ABC's "Top Line." Bolstering that claim, DeMint told the National Review that same day that he wouldn't challenge the Kentucky Republican in a leadership contest.
Not everyone, however, is sold on the idea that electoral gains will smooth the frictions inside the GOP.
"Right now, there is no coherent philosophy leading the GOP establishment other than anti-Obamaism," said Craig Shirley, a longtime party strategist. "And while that may be an effective organizing theme for a political party whose 'War Room' mentality has dominated it for the past ten years, it is hardly a governing set of principles."
"Assuming November goes as expected," Shirley added, "the GOP will shortly thereafter descend into a brawl that will resemble the bar scene from 'Star Wars'. One side will claim the election is a vindication of Bush's big government conservatism while another side, the Reaganites, allied with the Tea Party movement, will more astutely see the results as a repudiation of both Bush's and Obama's embrace of big government."
Long a skeptic about Republican leadership during the Obama presidency, Shirley's concerns about Republican disunity aren't entirely rare within the party ranks. The purge of not only moderates but the fiscally un-conservative that has defined this election cycle seems destined to morph into a philosophical battle over the direction of the GOP once the new class of members is seated.
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