Among Arizona's often divided Republicans, the nationwide revolution against big government launched two years ago by Newt Gingrich's merry band appears to be alive and well.
Just ask Dr. Robin Silver.In what was regarded as the only serious challenge to one of the state's five Republican congressmen, the veteran environmental activist ended up on the short end of a 3-1 landslide against one of the House speaker's most faithful freshman lieutenants, Rep. John Shadegg.
As the highest-profile contest in a year without any statewide primary races, Shadegg's surprisingly strong win served as a local bellwether of the much-watched condition of the national GOP.
Although many pundits have remarked on the party's declining health, as the ambitious plans of its gung-ho first congressional majority in 40 years to tame the federal behemoth ran afoul of skeptical media and a wary Senate, last Tuesday's results here gave little hint of a sickly patient.
Of course, the test that determines the complexion of government comes in November, but in lopsided Arizona districts with a dearth of general election races, the primary results often decide the final outcome.
And what emerged from the numbers was a familiar pattern - an election where incumbents usually win, and ideological shifts are gauged in inches, not yards.
Despite efforts by the GOP's right wing to boost its strength in state legislative ranks, it appeared last week (with still incomplete returns) that the Senate could end up faintly more centrist and the House - with a key member of its embattled moderate bloc, Becky Jordan, already beaten; and another, Susan Gerard, in trouble - slightly more conservative.
Certainly, there was little sign of GOP division in Shadegg's 75 percent showing, a far cry from his maiden outing in 1994, when he collected 43 percent in a bruising four-way race against a heavily favored county official.
Nor was there much sign of it in other congressional races, where Shadegg's four GOP colleagues among them faced only a single gadfly candidate, and only Rep. J.D. Hayworth appears to face a tough November race.
"I think it says the message of the Republican revolution is, in fact, what people want," said Shadegg, "at least here in Arizona. People are satisfied with what we're trying to do."
His success was hardly unexpected. Shadegg, son of the late architect of Barry Goldwater's early party-building victories in the 1950s, has a long pedigree in the GOP's conservative mainstream, while Silver's public persona has been forged in radical environmental activism more often associated with the Democratic party's left wing. In fact, most Republican leaders were surprised when he filed his candidacy to learn that Silver was one of their own.
If nothing else, the size of Shadegg's win was at least a sign that the GOP left can't be dislodged from the leftmost end of the political spectrum.
"Silver put out a ton of message," conceded Shadegg, "and spent a lot more on it than I did, but it was a rock-solid Democratic message. He never seemed to get much traction from it."
He was putting it mildly. In fact, much of the language in assorted Silver mailings could have been lifted almost verbatim from generic AFL-CIO television ads that are now running in battleground GOP districts across the country (including Hayworth's) to help elect Democrats and dislodge the GOP majority.
They castigated "Shadegg's sad voting record" and railed against many key planks in the new majority's program, including less stringent environmental regulations, Medicare reforms, a ban on taxpayer-funded abortions and a variety of budget cuts.
"John Shadegg voted against women, against clean air, against clean water, against retirees and for tobacco, mining and logging companies," said one.
And to describe this strange Republican campaign, Silver relied on a simple, if incredibly immodest, slogan: "He's right."
Not surprisingly, Silver apparently didn't make many friends in GOP activist ranks. "The party itself could be very cold," he said. "It was very discouraging when you hear all this talk about a big tent." While he complained (as many Republicans do) that Bill Clinton has "stolen many of our ideas," Silver didn't bother to add that he had returned the favor in spades.
With his primary safely behind him, Shadegg clearly won't be among those worried in November.
Besides enjoying the most lopsided Republican majority in any Arizona district, he also will face an unexpected Democratic foe - lightly regarded Maria Elena Milton. A disciple of Lyndon Larouche's cult of loony paranoiacs (who believe, among other things, that Queen Elizabeth II is a big-time drug dealer), Milton whipped anointed party hopeful Stuart Turnansky.
If Democrats have an ounce of sense, they will desert Milton in droves.
Then they will gloat less about the GOP's travails, which appear less dire than they hoped, and worry more about ensuring credible candidates who can add luster, rather than tarnish, to their party's old and honored name.