Regarding Delaware, the GOP primary there presents the question of how do we get the most conservative possible Congress: by electing a Republican in a blue state who will vote with us 50–60 percent of the time, or a Democrat who will vote with us basically never? That’s essentially the choice in the Castle-O’Donnell race, since O’Donnell would have a very hard time winning in the general election (even Castle will not necessarily have a cakewalk — Sean Trende points out that his lead over the Democrat Chris Coons does not look impregnable in such a Democratic state). In the spectrum of conservative upstarts, O’Donnell seems more a J. D. Hayworth (a candidate with deep, ultimately fatal credibility problems) than a Rand Paul (an unusual candidate and ideological purist, but one plausible enough to win in a fairly conservative state). I wouldn’t be shocked if O’Donnell wins the nomination, given how small the primary electorate will be, but it will probably mean a more liberal Senate in the end.