Word: republicanize
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...July 27, Bunning made a similar statement, but without the humor. "Unfortunately, running for office is not just about the issues," said Bunning, the baseball Hall of Famer known in Congress for being as stubborn as an angry umpire. "Over the past year, some of the leaders of the Republican Party in the Senate have done everything in their power to dry up my fundraising. The simple fact is that I have not raised the funds necessary to run an effective campaign for the U.S. Senate." (See an interactive guide of President Obama's first 100 days...
...doing so, McConnell was showing the same unsentimental single-mindedness that he has always displayed. A feud between Senators from the same state and same party is rare, but McConnell plays to win. "The Republican leadership was responsible for drying up his funds. Jim is right about that," Ford, a master of the Senate in his day, told TIME. "But McConnell was focusing on winning or losing. Republicans have lost the last two elections, so McConnell has been losing his taw, as we would say in western Kentucky, and he doesn't want to lose anymore...
...Ruth Bader Ginsburg after she was given a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, though he subsequently apologized. Meanwhile, Kentucky has gotten a little less red in recent years, even as Bunning has remained one of the most conservative Senators. Louisville now has a liberal Democrat in the House, and the Republican governor whom McConnell helped elect in 2003 was roundly defeated four years later. Bunning's conservative credentials - buoyed of late by his opposition to the stimulus package, Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor and, especially, the Wall Street bailout - would have stood him in good stead in a primary, but observers...
...With every vote critical in the Senate, where Democrats already have a 60-seat, theoretically filibuster-proof majority, McConnell decided that saving Bunning's political hide once - his last-minute help in Bunning's 2004 squeaker made the difference - was enough. He quietly signaled to Republican moneymen that they ought to wait Bunning out. Party leaders in Washington met with a potential primary opponent. The tension reached a boiling point when Bunning called Senator John Cornyn of Texas, who will lead efforts to re-elect GOP Senators in 2010, a liar after Cornyn denied he was recruiting an alternative candidate...
...Whoever the opponents are next year, McConnell's maneuvering has erased any doubt who is in control of almost all things Republican in the Bluegrass State. But there remains a wild card: McConnell is certainly not in control of Jim Bunning. And by forsaking a third term, Bunning gains something else: he's now officially a man with nothing to lose, which to McConnell must be a scary thought...