Even as Republicans lost their majority in 2006, conservatives had much success in House races. In states such as Idaho, Nebraska, and many others, they pulled the GOP caucus to the Right by winning primaries for open seats and, in one case, defeating incumbent moderates.

One of the conservative winners was Doug Lamborn (R), a former state senator who now represents Colorado’s fifth Congressional District. He has gone on to be a solidly conservative member of the House. Unsurprisingly, the Club for Growth has endorsed him today for re-election, noting his perfect repork card.

Lamborn’s repeat challenger, Jeff Crank (R), is also a committed conservative. The roots of this challenge are more personal than ideological — Lamborn took the seat out from under its retiring incumbent, Joel Hefley (R), who had been backing Crank, his former aide. The third man in the race is Retired Major General Bentley Rayburn, also a conservative.

The six-way primary (which included a moderate candidate) was extremely nasty, its result very close. Crank and Lamborn (the Club for Growth candidate) had been the frontrunners — there was some fear, however, that they would split the conservative vote. Lamborn came out on top. As Crank put it to the Colorado Springs Gazette this month, ”I think there was a feeling that the last race didn’t end honorably.” Lamborn easily won the general election, despite some late concerns about his race in this strongly Republican district.

It’s unfortunate that conservatives are going to spend so much money roughing each other up in Colorado this year, but that’s to be expected in politics.