Former Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO), who failed in November to unseat Sen. Claire McCaskill, told the Hill paper that the involvement of establishment Republicans like Karl Rove in local primaries is killing the “grassroots heart” of the GOP.
“It may be another example of big-government conservatism, to try to bypass primaries,” Akin said. “If they were successful, it basically helps kill the grassroots heart of the party. I think it’s very non-constructive.”
Even before his loss, Akin was being held up as evidence that national Republicans need to get involved in local primaries. The issue has come to the fore recently with Karl Rove’s new Conservative Victory Project, the goal of which is to help ensure more electable candidates win in Republican primaries.
“I think people are going to be wise to that attempt to bypass primary elections. To me, I think that’s tremendously disrespectful to the grassroots Republican primary voters,” Akin said of Rove’s new project.
