McConnell, GOP Senate brace for Roy Moore

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his allies are coming to grips with the fact that the next GOP colleague in their club is likely to be a conservative firebrand who the No. 2 Senate Republican just last week said would not be a reliable member of the conference.

Roy Moore’s victory in Alabama’s GOP primary on Tuesday is trouble for McConnell, who will have a new disruptive force to deal with in the Senate — assuming Moore wins the general election in December.

Moore provided a blueprint for defeating Senate GOP incumbents that involved using McConnell as a punching bag — something the Senate GOP leader and his colleagues all noticed.

Moore’s trouncing of Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.) had GOP senators scrambling on Wednesday to mend fences, given their opposition to his candidacy. A group linked to McConnell spent more than $10 million to defeat the conservative. Moore pledged in a fundraising email to “end Mitch McConnell’s reign as majority leader.”

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/352802-mcconnell-gop-senate-brace-for-roy-moore?rnd=1506557567

Got to love the circular firing squad.