Mark Halperin's Take: The Party of Palin and DeMint    • Share
• Read Later Wes Duvall for TIME; DeMint: Alex Wong-Getty
Images; O'Donnell: Rob Carr-AP; Palin: Alex Brandon-AP  Photo-
Illustration of Jim DeMint, Christine O'Donnell, and Sarah
Palin.  You can draw a straight line between the weakness of the
Republican Party after Barack Obama's 2008 victory and Christine
O'Donnell's win over Mike Castle in Delaware's Republican Senate
primary.  Back in January 2009, the GOP was as debilitated as
either major party had been in generations. The only thing it
lacked more than ideas, leadership and organization was energy.
Not willing to give Obama any victories and afraid to lose the
only followers they had left, Republicans chose to stay on the
hard right. Catering to the Tea Party and sticking to an anti-
Obama legislative strategy, the GOP went into full
obstructionist mode on almost every issue, and nearly always
unanimously.  There will be a lot of focus, and rightly so, on
the fact that O'Donnell's victory