Rep. Brad Carson, Coburn's supposedly moderate Democratic opponent, blistered the Republican in debates for wanting to "privatize" Social Security. But in Oklahoma as elsewhere, the major thrust by Democrats assailed Coburn for considering a 23 percent national sales tax (part of a nationally coordinated mailing the last week of the campaign). The outcome: Coburn won by the landslide proportion of 12 percentage points.
In South Carolina, DeMint was as pure a free market candidate as possible in winning a seat held for 42 years by arch-protectionist Democrat Ernest F. Hollings. A free trader, DeMint fought off protectionist assaults, first in the primary and later in the general election by State Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum. But Tenenbaum, a popular Democrat in this prototypical red state, campaigned hard against the 23 percent sales tax and excited her party's national strategists. The outcome: DeMint won by the landslide proportion of 10 percentage points.
The anti-sales-tax argument was pressed against Republicans all over the country, particularly State House Republican Leader Cathy McMorris in the state of Washington and former district judges Louis Gohmert and Ted Poe, running against redistricted incumbent Democrats in Texas. All were endorsed by the Club for Growth, and all won in landslides.
DeMint in South Carolina alarmed supporters temporarily by defending the 23 percent sales tax and failing to make clear that the reform would totally repeal the income tax. In fact, the plan is a work in progress with the possibility that the national sales tax could be reduced to as low as 13 percent or 10 percent by coupling it with a value-added tax in place of the corporate income tax.
Meanwhile, it was a bad election day for EMILY's list, which funds pro-choice female candidates. The organization's star candidates for the Senate, Tenenbaum in South Carolina and former State Education Commissioner Betty Castor in Florida, lost winnable races. Since its founding, the Club for Growth now has defeated EMILY's list, 10 to 3, in head-to-head contests. Economic freedom trumps abortion rights to the president's advantage as he pursues his new agenda.