http://www.salon.com/2012/12/07/what_jim_demint_figured_out/Don't be fooled by Sen. Jim DeMint's resignation. His influence on the Republican Party is as strong as ever
BY STEVE KORNACKI
It says something about the state of the conservative movement and the Republican Party that Jim DeMint’s power won’t wane at all – and, in fact, might even grow – as he leaves the U.S. Senate to run the Heritage Foundation.
To be sure, there was a time a few years back when DeMint’s stature and visibility was dependent on his Senate service. His initial victory in 2004 lifted him from the obscurity of the House to a perch from which he could attract attention from the conservative movement and the national press corps. And he exploited that opportunity for all it was worth, positioning himself as an ideological purist and playing the role of conscientious objector when his fellow Republicans sold out conservative principles (as he understands them). Active involvement in Republican primary races around the country grew out of this, with DeMint launching the Senate Conservatives Fund to provide political and financial support to fellow true believers, even – or especially – if they were up against candidates with substantial establishment support.
This is the main legacy of DeMint’s eight-year Senate career. In the past two election cycles, DeMint’s fingerprints have been on some of the most significant and fateful GOP primary results. In some instances, like the 2010 Kentucky race that helped bring Rand Paul to the Senate, he succeeded in elevating a fellow traveler and bending the Senate that much closer to his far-right absolutism. But in others, his efforts backfired, producing fundamentally unelectable candidates (think Christine O’Donnell) who lost seats the GOP would otherwise have won.
