Tea Party abandons Kidwell

With embattled Campbell County Sheriff Jeff Kidwell flopping around in agony after losing the Republican primary, the Tea Party has finally figured out it's time to abandon the sunken Kidwell ship, despite his own Tea Party views.

Local Tea Party activists have become obsessed with what they call the "red star incident." They now accuse Kidwell of blacklisting Tea Party adherents who attended a local Republican meet-up, by sticking red stars on their name tags. They also say Kidwell improperly diverted party funds to his 2012 campaign.

What is this feud really about? Actually, members of the local right-wing intelligentsia are just pointing fingers at each other because they've managed to produce such a shitty slate of candidates, and they know it. Tea Party members seem thoroughly shocked that Democrats now running in local elections might, you know, win. They think Tea Party Republicans are entitled to win every election and can't imagine that a Democrat might beat them.

So there ya have it, Campbell County voters. This is the party that's been running your county for the past quarter-century. It shows, by the way.