http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qxf6BOzNNY&feature=player_embedded
Here's the clip that, now that conservative activist and TV pundit Christine O'Donnell has won the Republican U.S. Senate primary in Delaware, may end up being the defining YouTube video leading up to the November election. On MTV's "Sex in the 90's" show, she and other members of an organization she founded talk about why pleasing yourself is a sin.
O'Donnell shocked the so-called experts and the Republican Party establishment last night by beating nine-term Congressman Mike Castle for the nomination. The party spent millions to keep O'Donnell off the ticket, flooding voters with recorded phone calls from her former campaign manager calling her a "fraud." The chair of the Delaware Republican party publicly said she could not be elected "dog catcher" in the state. Even George W. Bush strategist Karl Rove questioned her character on Fox News following the win.
Still, an endorsement from Sarah Palin and the backing of the now unquestionably-powerful Tea Party movement drove O'Donnell to the victory.
Her win crystallizes the narrative of the 2010 midterm elections. All over the country, Tea Party candidates have beaten party-backed Republicans in primaries, putting ultra-conservative candidates with little political experience on the ticket. In a year when Democrats are polling at an all-time low and turnout in Democratic primaries was its lowest on record, this may be the only shot the Dems have of winning voters - this possibility that the Tea Party candidates are unelectable beyond the primaries.
But it would be a mistake to dismiss the Tea Party candidates as not being a formidable populist force. Their primary wins demonstrate just how angry voters are and just how popular the Tea Party platform of less government and lower taxes has become. Trying to marginalize Tea Party candidates didn't work for the Republican establishment in Delaware, and might not work for Democrats in November.
With Rand Paul leading in the polls in Kentucky, and Palin-favorite Joe Miller on the Republican ticket in staunchly Republican Alaska, at least a handful of Tea Partiers are expected to be "shaking up" Washington next year.
Perhaps O'Donnell will join them. But if you see her shaking, we at least know it's not because she's doing anything naughty under her desk.