Roy Blunt Defeats Ron Johnson In Senate GOP Leadership Race

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, a supporter of Mitt Romney, won a Senate GOP leadership post Tuesday over tea party favorite Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.

The secret balloting elevated Blunt, a former House leader and Romney's chief advocate on Capitol Hill, to vice chairman of the GOP conference, the fifth-most senior position in the party's caucus.

Senate Republicans also elected Sens. John Thune of South Dakota chairman of their conference and Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming chairman of the Senate GOP policy committee, the third and fourth most senior party positions, respectively. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky heads the GOP in the Senate, followed by Minority Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona, who is retiring at the end of next year.

The Blunt-Johnson race was considered symbolically important, a test of tea party clout a year after the libertarian-leaning movement helped drive Republicans into the House majority. Blunt is one of the most established Washington Republicans and controls what is widely considered the best GOP fundraising network of anyone in the party not running for president.

The conference vice chairmanship position carries little power or responsibility other than to spread the Senate Republican leadership's message ahead of the 2012 elections. But it often is a stepping stone to higher positions in the seniority-driven chamber.

Blount was House majority whip and briefly majority leader before Republicans lost their House majority to Democrats in the 2006 election.

Johnson announced his candidacy soon after Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander said in September that he would relinquish the position at the end of the year. Johnson was endorsed by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., a prominent figure in the tea party movement.

Comments

[Deftguy]

11:09 AM on 12/15/2011

Ouch!. The tea party cups will boil and overflow on this news. Looks like the Republican establishment wants to keep the new kids on the block in their place.

[thefacts22]

12:34 PM on 12/14/2011

It is Vox Populi that votes are being stolen....No ID require to vote, even fake signatures will be valid now. The liberals are desperate and they will do ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING to keep the power. Get ready for the fight America.

[Giggie]

04:36 PM on 12/14/2011

It's republicans who have the history of vote stealing, intimidation and outright lies to force thing their way.

[Deftguy]

11:19 AM on 12/15/2011

Funny how a person can name them self thefacts, and be completely devoid of them.

[idisVA]

12:05 PM on 12/14/2011

Over-inflated self-importance of the Tea Party meets reality.

[Middle Class Majority]

12:01 PM on 12/14/2011

This shows that the GOP Progressive Establishment is more afraid of the TEA Party than the Democrats. TEA Party legislators cannot be bought by committee assignments and pork barrel projects because they have principles.

[trconsulting]

09:57 AM on 12/14/2011

The Tea Parties biggest obstacle to legitamacy within the Republican't party is their constant fielding of candidates that exist on the lunatic fringe. The rest of the Republican'ts aren't much better as their race for the Republican't nomination is part circus and part soap opera. Bring on the clowns! I need another good laugh.

[Middle Class Majority]

12:02 PM on 12/14/2011

You won't be laughing after the election.

[trconsulting]

12:05 PM on 12/14/2011

It would be a sad commentary on the intelligence of the American voter if any of these clowns were to be elected. So, in that sense, you are correct.

[rjollierroger]

09:09 AM on 12/14/2011

We had basically the same thing here where I live. A mayor election between 3 favored Repbs. one the tea party pick, and 2 little known black Dems. When it came up to a run off between the Tea party pick, & one of the little known Dems., everyone was like, where did he come from. In the run off the little known Dem. beat the tea party pick so bad, the tea party repb conceded early in the nite. The leader of the tea party here nearly blew a fuse, wanted to sue everyone.

[DickRay Schliep]

09:07 AM on 12/14/2011

America as a rule does not like Tea, that is why we consume so much coffee. REAL workers, miners, construction, teachers etc. all drink coffee. lol

[USA2BGR8AGAIN]

09:03 AM on 12/14/2011

GOP leadership is waking up a little, they know the Tea Party is on the way down the tubes and taking the Republican Party with it. I think it's too late for them now, they have inflicted too much damage to the Nation and voters will send a large group of them walking next year. The GOP has become so destructive to the average American and they will have to pay a hefty price for their transgressions. The majority of us do not fall for the lies and propaganda that has enslaved so many of our fellow citizens, count on Democrats running the entire show in 2013.

[Rob Johnson57]

09:01 AM on 12/14/2011

REMEMBER ROY BLUNT ALWAYS VOTES WITH THE LOBBYIST AND THAT WILL BE HIS LEGACY. Rob

[Mary Yochheim]

08:51 AM on 12/14/2011

The lowest approval rating of any president ever? Where did that info come from?

[gmabobbie]

09:49 AM on 12/14/2011

Mary Yochheim
Obviously very few people like to actually look things up. Obama is not even close to the lowest rated President ever. I have enclosed a link that shows where all the modern , and not so modern Presidents rate. Interesting note: Obama was at 38 in Oct. of 2011, but jr. bush had dropped to 25 in October 2008. And let us not forget nixon. Although truman beat him out but 2 points lower. Highest of all was Kennedy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_approval_rating

Right now the republican/tea party led congress has the most to worry about:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/congressional_job_approval-903.html

[Tony Moschetti]

08:46 AM on 12/14/2011

Simply more proof that there is little difference between the big government Democrats, and the big government, establishment Republicans, who, unfortunately, still control their party, and who give voters little reason to put them back in charge.

The Republican party leadership are like an ongoing SNL skit, except they are even less likeable than portrayed. Their opposition is a failed president with the lowest approval rating of ANY president in modern times, but are doing everything in their power to keep him alive in the race. This is like blowing a 21 point lead with two minutes left in the game. If anyone can pull it off the Goofy Old Party can. Perhaps they can revive John McCain for one more run!

[mrj8gd]

09:03 AM on 12/14/2011

So you're saying the Democrats are then like a really bad SNL skit hmmm I like it.

[badunion]

09:08 AM on 12/14/2011

Dems= Marxists, Reps = Constitutionalists, I'll take the latter thankyou!

[gccms]

09:41 AM on 12/14/2011

I wish that was true, but it's more like Dems= Communist, Reps = Socialist

[wowedby]

08:29 AM on 12/14/2011

Extremist can only be influential but for so long. After a while people see just how crazy their ideals are and how they have only made things worse. The better approach is to have a "real" third party in order to take away unlimited power that has become the current leadership. Everyone knows the Dems and the Repbs have struck a deal between them and not until they are made to share he "pie" with the rest of us will they actually do for the people instead of big business. Of course this will never happen, and I can go back to dreamland.

[Truwriter]

08:11 AM on 12/14/2011

The Tea Party is the bogeyman of the far left and a buzzword for the media to make liberals sit up and bark like dogs. Real power? Not much. The media and liberals told us for two years that the TP was just like the KKK and racist to its core, but then it supported Herman Cain and the media had to destroy him for being an uppity black who declined to shuffle behind the liberals and the libs let us know that Herman was touching white women. But does the TP control the GOP? Nope, the TP really dislike Newt but then he is the GOP front runner and appeals to moderate Dems as well. The TP is the far right and thats all the far left wants to talk about. The GOP and moderate Dems would rather talk about the country and getting out of the mess the the left has gotten us into. Not by going to the far right, but by electing Newt, the only moderate, bipartisan candidate in the race on either side of the ticket.

[jrgilb0729]

08:47 AM on 12/14/2011

Truly you must be suffering from a dillusional sense of conspiracy paranoia. I will only reference one of the onfounded statements that you made. The Liberal media did not destroy Herman Cain. Cain's lack of character and morals as well as his inability to control his penis are the true reasons why he is gone with the wind.

Your remaing talking points have no more validity than the one stated above.

To even suggest that 8 years of Bush, two wars and deregulation of the banking system is somehow the fault of the Democrats is beyond explanation

I would imagine that you are an avid follower of FOX. Please open your mind and look for other sources for your rants before you post them where millions of others can see.

I think that you will find that the internet is a much larger place than we may believe.

[flabrija63]

09:09 AM on 12/14/2011

so typically Liberal. Yep, never fail to use Fox and Bush in your response. Well, let me blow your liberal mind here friend. I'm conservative and I didn't like Bush and I watch maybe 5 minutes of Fox a month. All my friends are conservative too and they would say the same thing on both topics. You are way more off on this than you even begin to suspect.
As bad as me assuming you're a Michael Moore fanboy because you're a Liberal.

[dagacheme]

10:16 AM on 12/14/2011

The only chance to get us out of this mess is to elect the godfather of the Tea Party - Ron Paul.

[Jeff081]

08:04 AM on 12/14/2011

The Tea Party did their job, their message and enthusiasum has filtered into the Republican party, and voter registration is at an all time high for that party. Like a starter for a car, they got the engine going, and it's going strong.

[WD Simmons]

08:28 AM on 12/14/2011

Republicans loving republicans. 80 million people voted in 2010 versus 131 million in 2008. If even only half of that gap is representative of people who voted for Obama then GOP voter registration won't be enough.The GOP will have to cheat like they did in 2000 and 2004. I don't put it past them, they are working on it already.

[scotty5720]

08:37 AM on 12/14/2011

Cheat? Back your comment up with a few facts or be quiet. Your post is a much a lie as the Obama administration itself.

[badunion]

09:09 AM on 12/14/2011

Maybe we can get that Indiana Acorn guy who forged Dems signatures to get Obama on ballot, LMAO!

[Nancy Q]

08:50 AM on 12/14/2011

GOOD!!! LET'S KEEP IT GOING!!!

[fredlynn07]

08:01 AM on 12/14/2011

Slipping away