A lot of gun owners are conservatives, and a lot of conservatives are gun owners — but the interests of the two don’t always line up perfectly. On Friday, the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action endorsed Republican senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Senate candidate John Boozman of Arkansas, gubernatorial candidates Bill Brady of Illinois and Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania, and Rep. John Kline of Minnesota. They also endorsed an endangered Democratic House member in Ohio, Zack Space, and a somewhat less endangered Democrat, Tim Walz of Minnesota.
I talked to Chris Cox, executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action, Friday about the group’s approach to endorsements and how the organization ended up backing some figures who are not so popular with grassroots conservatives; you can find that article on the home page.