Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest: Walden cracks out of turn and Club for Growth threatens primary

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Leading Off: • OR-02: The ramifications of NRCC chief Greg Walden's decision to lambaste President Obama's proposed budget over cuts to Social Security have been pretty far-reaching, and the implications are still being felt. First and foremost, Walden (who would have been much smarter to just keep his mouth shut) helpfully previewed the assault Democrats can expect if they vote for Obama's plan by criticizing them for "trying to balance this budget on the backs of seniors." As my colleague Jed Lewison put it, Walden's "premature attack" could perversely "mak[e] sure the Democratic Party stands up for Social Security" because (duh) who the hell wants to be on the receiving end of the inevitable negative ads? Walden's created a real headache for his own party, though, since many Republicans actually like the idea of cutting entitlements. (John Boehner, for instance, says he "disagrees" with Walden—though he refused to say whether he'd "call on Republicans next year to not attack Democrats" over the issue, which means he won't.) But Walden's also created a headache for himself, since at least one conservative group that's professionally dedicated to destroying the social safety net is really up in arms. Now, who knows if anything will even come of it, but the Club for Growth is claiming they want to find someone to challenge Walden in the GOP primary. On the other hand, Grover Norquist thinks that Obama's desire to implement this change to Social Security, known as "chained CPI," is actually a stealth tax increase (it's complicated), so there may well be a split on the rabble-rousing right on this issue, and perhaps, as well, on how Walden should be dealt with.

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