Standoff within the Senate GOP …

over earmarks.

Fresh off the tea party’s show of election might, GOP Sen. Jim DeMint said Tuesday he’ll force a showdown next week with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other old guard Republicans over “earmarked” pet projects that DeMint and other victors last week made a symbol of out-of-control deficit spending.

The South Carolina Republican, buoyed by support from six GOP freshman, is optimistic he’ll win a change in internal GOP rules to effectively bar any Republican from seeking earmarks.

“Americans want Congress to shut down the earmark favor factory, and next week I believe House and Senate Republicans will unite to stop pork barrel spending,” DeMint said.

DeMint won backing from 25 Senate Republicans, including McConnell, earlier this year to impose an earmark ban on Republicans and Democrats alike. Despite winning the support of a majority of Republicans, the proposal was easily defeated by Democrats and 14 pro-earmark Republicans. Thirty-three of 41 Senate Republicans then sought earmarks in this year’s unfinished roster of spending bills.

McConnell, however, isn’t enthusiastic about the idea of a ban now. And he finds himself caught in the middle of an unwelcome battle dividing his party and opening it to criticism from anti-pork tea party activists who helped Republicans take back the House and elect several anti-earmark senators.

Among the GOP freshman supporting Sen. DeMint’s proposal is Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson.

Cosponsoring DeMint’s proposal, to be unveiled at next week’s Senate Republican Conference, are Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma), John Ensign (R-Nevada), Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming), and John Cornyn (R-Texas) as well as Senators-elect Pat Toomey (R-Pennsylvania), Marco Rubio (R-Florida), Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin), and Kelly Ayotte (R-New Hampshire).

The proposal sets up a standoff between the Tea Party wing of the Senate GOP – Lee, Johnson, Paul and Rubio all got strong Tea Party pushes during their campaigns – and establishment Republicans in the Senate such as minority leader Mitch McConnell.

An early battle between the Tea Party and “The Establishment”?

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DeMint looks towards November and beyond

Joe Miller (Alaska), Sharron Angle (Nevada), Ken Buck (Colorado), Pat Toomey (Pennsylvania), Marco Rubio (Florida), Dino Rossi (Washington), Ron Johnson (Wisconsin), Mike Lee (Utah) — these are just a few of the Reaganite insurgents with whom Sen. Jim DeMint (S.C.) hopes to work in the upper chamber come January. Should they win in November, DeMint predicts, this new crop of conservatives will help to push the GOP back toward the party’s principled, free-market roots.

“These candidates have gotten the message,” DeMint says in an interview with National Review Online. “They understand that if we get the majority, and we don’t do what we said we would, then we’re dead as a party — and should be.”

GOP incumbents, DeMint warns, should pay close attention to what is happening around the country. Even if there is a Republican sweep, he says, “many Americans fear that senior members of our party will go back to focusing on getting earmarks for their states, that we will betray them again. But with ten to 15 new allies in the Senate, which I think we’ll have, that will not be tolerated any more.”

Even if conservatives make major gains, DeMint says, he will not challenge Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky in a Senate leadership contest. Still, he pledges that he will do his best to change the direction of the party with the help of however many new colleagues he may have. But don’t expect him to try to corral freshman Republicans into a DeMint bloc — “I’d like to throw that idea into the trash can,” he says. “It’s simply not true. These candidates are leaders in their own right. I’m supporting them, because they’re not running on some consultant’s talking points. They’re running on principle.” Jockeying for a leadership position, he says, is not his focus. “What I’m interested in is turning this country away from its fiscal cliff — and for the first time since Reagan, I think that we have a chance for real action, not just political posturing.” (Source: NRO)

Go to the source to read the rest.  Some interesting tidbits from Sen. DeMint calling out the old Establishment types to suggesting Sen. John McCain‘s primary victory might be good in some respects.  The key with Sen. DeMint is that he walks the walk when it comes conservatism, it’s not just talk the way it is with some.

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