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By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, Associated Press Writer


      Conservative Christine O'Donnell pulled off a stunning upset
over nine-term Rep. Mike Castle in the Republican Senate primary in
Delaware Tuesday, propelled by tea party activists into a November
showdown with Democrat Chris Coons. After a primary season shaped
by economic pain and exasperated voters, the grass-roots,
anti-establishment movement can claim wins in at least seven GOP
Senate races, a handful of Republican gubernatorial contests and
dozens of House primary campaigns, and it influenced many others.

      In the fight for New Hampshire's Republican Senate nomination, a
second insurgent trailed in vote counting that was still going on
Wednesday. After lagging in early returns, former Attorney General
Kelly Ayotte moved ahead of Ovide Lamontagne with a lead of roughly
1,000 votes, with results tallied from 85 percent of precincts.
Ayotte was backed by establishment Republicans and Alaska Gov.
Sarah Palin; Lamontagne, a former chairman of the state Board of
Education, campaigned with the support of tea party activists.


      In New York, tea party ally Carl Paladino dealt another shock to
the GOP establishment, defeating former Rep. Rick Lazio in the race
for the party's nomination for governor. Paladino will face state
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the well-known son of former Gov.
Mario Cuomo.

      The Delaware outcome reflected the energy and enthusiasm of the
tea partiers, but O'Donnell also enters the race against Coons as
an underdog, putting GOP control of the Senate further out of
reach. Former George W. Bush political adviser Karl Rove told Fox
News Channel, "This is not a race we're going to be able to win,"
and Delaware Republicans actively worked against her in as
Tuesday's voting drew to an end.

      On Wednesday, a triumphant O'Donnell accused the party of
"Republican cannibalism."


      She told ABC's "Good Morning America" that if party leaders
"were serious about winning, we could repair the damage done and
move forward," but also insisted she could win the Senate seat
without their help.

      Democratic national committee chief Tim Kaine told NBC's
"Today" on Wednesday that O'Donnell's win was good for Democrats
and a further sign of the "civil war" in the Republican party.

      "That creates opportunities for us," he said. The O'Donnell
win shows that moderate Republican voters are being forced from
their party and will "have to look long and hard before supporting
these candidates," Kaine said.

      Speaking Tuesday night at an Elks Lodge in Dover, Del.,
O'Donnell thanked Sarah Palin for her endorsement as well as the
Tea Party Express, a California political committee that spent at
least $237,000 to help her defeat Castle, a moderate and a fixture
in Delaware politics for a generation.

      Republican Party officials who saw Castle as their only hope for
winning the Delaware seat once held by Vice President Joe Biden
made clear they will not provide funding for O'Donnell in the
general election. The Republican state chairman, Tom Ross, has said
O'Donnell "could not be elected dogcatcher," and records surfaced
during the campaign showing that the IRS had once slapped a lien
against her and that her house had been headed for foreclosure. She
also claimed - falsely - to have carried two of the state's
counties in a race against Biden six years ago.


      In Minneapolis, former President Bill Clinton said the
Republican Party is pushing out pragmatic voices in favor of
candidates that make former President George W. Bush "look like a
liberal."

      O'Donnell has said she would work in Congress to repeal
President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. She was also a
spokeswoman for Concerned Women for America, a conservative
Christian group that opposes abortion, including in the case of
rape, and supports abstinence-only sex education.

      The victories by O'Donnell and Paladino are the latest evidence
of the influence of the tea party movement, a loose-knit coalition
of community groups that advocate limited government, tightfisted
spending and free markets.

      Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, who was aided by spending by the
Tea Party Express, became an overnight Republican star in January
when he claimed the seat held for decades by the late Sen. Edward
M. Kennedy. Brown's win set the stage for a year of outsider
candidates, and the tea party has scored prominent primary election
wins in Utah, Nevada, Kentucky, Colorado and Alaska.


      O'Donnell and other tea party candidates have called for an
abrupt turn toward austere government, and the question will be how
far voters want to go to reshape Washington.

      The movement's spirited rallies have attracted tens of thousands
of people, and they've made their presence felt at the polls:
Republican turnout in the primary season has well outpaced
Democratic. Even in races where the tea party has been less
visible, its influence is evident in candidates' arguments. In the
California race for governor, Democrat Jerry Brown is depicting
himself as a tax-cutter who keeps his eye on the bottom line.

      But for all its enthusiasm, the tea party has elevated sometimes
unpolished or flawed candidates who - in some cases - will be more
vulnerable in November, particularly in states or districts that
are more moderate. The movement has also opened fissures with the
GOP establishment. In Alaska, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who was defeated
by tea party favorite Joe Miller, is considering a write-in
candidacy and says the Alaska Republican party was "hijacked" by
the Tea Party Express, which she calls an "extremist group." The
committee, based in California, endorsed Miller and ran ads
supporting him.

      Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada once appeared headed
for near-certain defeat in the state that has the nation's highest
unemployment, but he's now running even with tea party favorite
Sharron Angle, a Republican who wants to phase out Social Security
for younger workers, opposes abortion in all cases, including rape
and incest, and would break up the federal Education Department.

      In Colorado, Republicans tried to get their nominee for
governor, tea party favorite Dan Maes, to quit the race after
embarrassing missteps. He's claimed he worked as an undercover
police officer in Kansas - statements that have not been
corroborated by authorities - and he once suggested that a Denver
bike-sharing program is part of a U.N. conspiracy to control
American cities.

      For the GOP, the tea party "is a mixed blessing," said Bill
Whalen, a fellow at the conservative Hoover Institution.

      The movement's voters are energized but "anyone but Sharron
Angle would have Harry Reid dead to rights. Abolishing the
Education Department, it's a little too much," Whalen said.

      The loosely connected movement, which took shape in early 2009
in reaction to bailouts and rising government debt, has no central
organization that endorses candidates. There are thousands of local
chapters, some of which are tethered to national groups.


      Tea party candidates have been aided by support from
conservative political committees that share the movement's limited
government, free market agenda, including the Tea Party Express,
FreedomWorks, Club for Growth and South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint's
Senate Conservatives Fund.


      The financial arm of the Tea Party Express - the Our Country
Deserves Better PAC - has spent about $1.6 million in advertising
and mailings in a handful of races, including $237,000 in Delaware.
It pumped $588,000 into the GOP primary in Alaska to lift Miller
over Murkowski.

      The Tea Party Express' biggest investment has been in Nevada,
where it has spent $790,000 on Angle's behalf. It also spent about
$350,000 in Massachusetts to help Brown win.


      Associated Press writers Jim Kuhnhenn in Washington and Becky
Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, contributed to this report.

Gallery

Virtually unknown a month ago, Christine
O'Donnell rode a surge of support from tea party activists to
victory in Delaware's Republican Senate primary Tuesday night,
dealing yet another setback to the GOP establishment in a campaign
season full of them. A second insurgent led for the GOP nomination
in New Hampshire.

Big night for tea party: O'Donnell wins Delaware

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