Northeastern Republicans Envision Comeback [View All]

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Carl Hulse, The New York Times
January 30, 2010

WASHINGTON — The Northeastern Republican was nearly driven to extinction by political climate change, but the species appears poised to make a comeback.

The successful run of Scott Brown in the Senate race in Massachusetts, coupled with the front-runner status of Representative Michael N. Castle in Delaware in his bid for the Senate and other strong candidacies, could bode well for Republicans in a region that has been shedding them because of a sense that the party had grown too conservative and focused on the South.

In the House, no New England state is represented by a Republican, and neighboring New York is down to two. The Senate’s two moderate Republicans, Susan Collins and Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, say they would certainly welcome the company.

“I love the irony that it is Massachusetts that has come to the rescue of the Republican Party,” said Ms. Collins, referring to how the election of Mr. Brown from the deep-blue Bay State is energizing her party and raising the spirits of candidates who now know it is possible for Republicans to win even in Democratic strongholds.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/us/politics/31memo.html