Politico reports that in Virginia's 5th Congressional District Tea Party activist Jeffrey Clark will run as an independent if moderate Republican Robert Hurt wins his party's nomination to take on Tom Perriello.
How serious would a Clark candidacy be? When we polled the district in early February we found that a generic Tea Party candidate would pull 19%. Perriello received 44% and Hurt 27% in such a scenario. ...
Do I really think Clark would pull 19%? No. But Perriello has held up pretty well so far given the political climate and the nature of his district, and even if 48% is the best he can get to in an off year election that would still put him over the top if Clark got just 5% from Hurt's disaffected supporters. Republicans are doing a good job of getting on the same page after the primary in most races this year but this is certainly one where the failure to do so could give Democrats a victory they might not otherwise get.
It's sort of convenient that tea parties are about principles and not politicians, given that teabaggers don't have a single candidate within a country mile of elected office.
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