OPEN WARFARE BREAKS OUT

“ MISSISSIPPI BLOODBATH: OPEN WARFARE BREAKS OUT IN TEA PARTY VS. BARBOUR, COCHRAN McDaniel just secured the endorsement of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and on Wednesday the Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund announced its support for him. He already has a consortium of national and state groups backing him up, ranging from the powerful Club For Growth to the grassroots-focused FreedomWorks and Tea Party Express, among scores of others. Mississippi’s GOP senate primary is quickly becoming ground zero in 2014 for the fight between the establishment and the conservative grassroots for control of the Republican Party’s future. The state’s former governor Haley Barbour’s establishment political machine is in full swing running defense for incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran. Cochran is facing the fight of his political life from surging primary challenger two-term state Sen. Chris McDaniel. What has until now largely been a battle between Cochran and McDaniel facing off head-to-head is turning into the front line of the brutal and bloody political war between the Chamber of Commerce-style lobbyist big government Republicans and conservative grassroots focused Republicans who align with the Tea Party movement. Conservatives say Barbour and Cochran are examples of exactly what’s wrong with the party right now, while establishment figures say the exact same thing about the Tea Party. The last several months have provided foreshadowing for the battle. Before McDaniels even announced he would challenge Cochran, Henry Barbour said McDaniels will have “his head handed to him, and that will be what he deserves” if he ran. “I am not sure what is worse, Governor Haley Barbour saying that Cochran should be a Senator for life, or Senator McConnell saying they are going to ‘crush’ the tea party movement and our candidates,” Kremer said in an email. -Amy Kremer, the chairwoman of Tea Party Express: But on Wednesday, this fight between grassroots conservatives and establishment Republicans in Mississippi burst into open warfare. “The battle lines are clearly drawn in this race,” FreedomWorks President Matt Kibbe said in an emailed statement to Breitbart News. “This is Cochran and his band of super lobbyists vs. Chris McDaniel and the people of Mississippi. The Barbours don't represent Mississippians, they represent their lobbying client lists.”  [Full Brietbart] Amy Kremar says “You can involve the entire Barbour family and all of their trusted ones on the payroll, but they will never have the strength of the grassroots.” True, but they may have control of counting votes.  Let's hope Haley Barbour has enough decency to  let the game play out. I mean, he isn't a Democrat for chrissake; just a self serving  bureaucrat. ”