The Battle of the Conservatives

Today is primary election day in a number of states, and in Delaware conservatives are battling over Joe Biden's old Senate seat.  It's not just the candidates who are battling, but the pundits.  Only one of the candidates can be considered a true conservative, but there's quite a battle in the blogosphere between various conservative pundits I respect over whether it's smart to support the conservative candidate who probably can't win the general election over the moderate (or RINO) candidate who would surely win in November.

On the side of pragmatism and guaranteeing a win for the GOP even if the candidate, Mike Castle, may be an unreliable vote, are people like Jim Geraghty (Campaign Spot), Paul Mirengoff (Powerline) and Patterico (Patterico's Pontifications).  On the side of conservative purity, even if nominating Christine O'Donnell means a sure loss in November, is Ed Morrissey (Hot Air), Radio host Mark Levin (who frankly has been rather nasty about this whole thing), and Dan Riehl (Riehl World View).

The chance of the GOP taking the Senate this year is not that good.  Even the best estimates of current polls give the GOP only 8 or so seats, short of the 10 needed to take control.  If the Delaware seat meant the difference between taking the Senate or not, maybe I could get more exercised over this race.  In general, I've felt the primary is the place to support the person who most meets your ideological  requirements.  However, you also have to retain a degree of pragmatism because nominating bad candidates is not a recipe for long-term success.

Neither candidate in Delaware is a great choice, however I feel putting this seat in the GOP column at this point in time is preferable to winning the ideological battle in the primary only to lose the war in November.  I will not be terribly disappointed if Mike Castle prevails tonight.