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Tea party candidates have made gaffes before, but Mississippi Senate candidate Chris McDaniel is caught in a scandal over a secret video of his opponent's ill wife allegedly made by a supporter.

The tea party's brief history has been marred by candidates making deeply offensive comments that sent their election hopes crashing. Now, that storyline could be getting a new twist in Mississippi.

Staff writer

Mark is deputy national news editor for the Monitor.

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Chris McDaniel, who is running a tea party-fueled primary challenge against Sen. Thad Cochran (R), didn't say anything troublesome at all this weekend. Yet his campaign could be in serious trouble because of what one of his supporters did.

The supporter was arrested Friday and accused of breaking into a senior care facility and taking a video of Senator Cochran's wife, who has been diagnosed with an advanced stage of dementia and is currently bedridden. The supporter then incorporated the video into a homemade attack piece against Cochran.

There has been no claim on either side that the McDaniel campaign was behind the video. Mr. McDaniel released a strong statement Saturday morning.

"I have reached out to Sen. Cochran directly to express my abhorrence for the reprehensible actions of this individual. This criminal act is deeply offensive and my team and I categorically reject any such appalling behavior. My thoughts and prayers are with Sen. Cochran and his family. Politics is about the exchange of ideas and this type of action has no place in politics whatsoever and will not be tolerated."

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New tea party twist: Mississippi candidate in trouble for 'offensive' video (+video)

WASHINGTON -- Tuesday's high-profile primary elections may extend a streak of sorts for tea party Republicans: losing individual races but winning the larger ideological war by tugging the GOP rightward.

Several tea party-endorsed candidates are struggling in Tuesday's Republican congressional primaries in Georgia, Kentucky and Idaho. In each state, however, the "establishment" Republican candidates have emphasized their conservative credentials, which narrows the party's philosophical differences.

Citing similar dynamics in other states, Democrats say the GOP candidates who are trying to give Republicans control of the Senate will prove too far right for centrist voters in November.

Republicans need to gain six Senate seats to control the chamber. Holding Kentucky and Georgia against well-funded Democrats, both women, is crucial to their hopes.

Six states hold primaries Tuesday. Georgia, Kentucky and Oregon have closely watched Republican contests for Senate. Pennsylvania and Arkansas have feisty gubernatorial primaries.

In Idaho, tea party-backed lawyer Bryan Smith is trying to oust Republican Rep. Mike Simpson, who's seeking a ninth House term.

In Kentucky, tea partyers would love to knock off Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a 30-year senator they see as too accommodating to Democrats. But challenger Matt Bevin has struggled under a barrage of attacks from McConnell and his allies.

McConnell, caught off guard by the tea party movement in 2010, has scrambled to win support from conservatives who dislike compromise. He quickly allied himself with Sen. Rand Paul, who defeated McConnell's hand-picked candidate in the 2010 primary.

And in February, McConnell voted against raising the debt ceiling, a never-pleasant vote that past party leaders often swallowed to avert a government default.

In Georgia, the Republican primary to succeed retiring Sen. Saxby Chambliss drew a crowded field, including three U.S. House members. All are battling for the top two spots, with a July 22 runoff virtually certain.

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Tea party candidates are tugging GOP rightward

hide captionIdaho Republican Mike Simpson appears on track to beat his Tea Party challenger, Bryan Smith, in Tuesday's primary.

Idaho Republican Mike Simpson appears on track to beat his Tea Party challenger, Bryan Smith, in Tuesday's primary.

Mike Simpson has been atop the Tea Party hit list for much of this election year.

And Tuesday's primary contest between the Idaho Republican congressman and Tea Party challenger Bryan Smith had been billed as a big one in a string of GOP primary mashups that would signal the sway of the Tea Party faction or the ability of traditional conservatives like Simpson to fight back in a deep red state.

"It's been a real-deal campaign here in Idaho," says Skip Smyser, the conservative founder of Boise-based government relations firm Lobby Idaho.

In the campaign's waning days, however, internal polls suggest that Simpson, who according to most recent finance reports has raised $1.9 million to Smith's $781,425, appears on track to beat back his Tea Party challenger after a campaign swamped with outside money.

While Simpson has a solid 80-plus rating from the American Conservative Union, he ran afoul of the Tea Party by voting for the 2008 Wall Street bailout. It doesn't help that he's a close ally of a face of the GOP establishment, House Speaker John Boehner.

In his deep-red eastern Idaho district, the only real danger for Simpson is in the primary. And there he has shown some weakness: In 2010, he won 58 percent in the GOP primary, a relatively low percentage for an incumbent. (In 2012, Simpson bounced back by winning 70 percent against a Tea Party challenger.)

All of that made him an early target of the D.C.-based Club for Growth, a small-government and free-market-oriented group which moved aggressively to help bankroll Smith, a lawyer and debt collector.

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High On Tea Party Hit List, Idaho Congressman Looks To Hold On

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