Cornyn: Conservatives 'have to yield' to reality in upcoming Senate races

Conservative primary voters "have to yield" to reality, Senate Republicans' campaign chairman said Wednesday.

Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), suggested that conservatives need to have a more realistic sense of which races are winnable and with which candidates.

"Folks on the right, and frankly I'm one of them in terms of voting record, have to yield to the world as it is and not necessarily how they wish it would be," Cornyn told Reuters for a story about centrist Rep. Mike Castle's (R) bid for Senate next year in Delaware.

Belying Cornyn's jab is the battle in which the conservative Texas senator has been locked with party activists over the past few months.

Conservative bloggers like RedState's Erick Erickson have been consummate critics of Cornyn for having recruited candidates like Gov. Charlie Crist (R) in Florida's Senate race over a conservative darling, former state House Speaker Marco Rubio (R). The NRSC's decision to help former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina raise money, while California Assemblyman Chuck DeVore hasn't received (or requested) support in the GOP race for California's Senate seat, as well as other primary endorsements, has led to Cornyn battling Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and his Senate Conservatives Fund in recent weeks, as well.

Cornyn pointed to his recruitment of Castle, a centrist Republican in a state where statewide offices have generally been controlled by Democrats, as an example of the NRSC facing reality.

"The world as it is in Delaware is that if Mike Castle didn't run, Beau Biden would be the next senator from Delaware," Cornyn said, pointing to Vice President Joe Biden's son, the state's attorney general and a likely 2010 Democratic candidate against Castle.

---