In Oklahoma Senate Race, Establishment Republicans Battling Far-Right Conservatives
Lankford supporters, however, note that Coburn has not been a go-it-alone partisan in the Senate. Lankford, who holds a junior post among elected House GOP leaders, said he plans to make the race about his accomplishments, rather than who can shout loudest at President Obama.
“Conservatives have increasingly grown more and more frustrated and caustic when we should grow more committed and more focused,” he said Monday during his campaign announcement.
Some longtime Republicans are suggesting that this is an internal Oklahoma dispute that does not fit the long-running feud among competing wings of the national GOP, warning outside groups that all the potential nominees are sufficiently conservative.
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