No Sitting Senators or House Members in the Race

Jonathan Martin observes at Politico:

Sen. John Thune’s (R-S.D.) decision to pass on a presidential run means that no sitting member of Congress is openly pursuing a White House bid – a modern first that illustrates the lingering toxicity of the GOP’s congressional wing.

It’s an unusual state of affairs, particularly since the Senate is known for its ability to stoke the national ambitions of even its lesser members.

But Washington Republicans are still viewed with deep suspicion by many conservatives and tea party activists who believe the GOP drifted far from its small-government principles during the Bush years. Years of earmarking, an expensive prescription drug benefit and, especially, the 2008 bank bailout, have taken their toll, making it difficult for veteran congressmen and senators to use the Capitol as a launching pad.

Thune, for example, would have faced considerable unease among some in the party base over his support for TARP.

“A lot of the senators that stood up and voted for TARP paid a huge price for it,” observed former Senate GOP Leader Trent Lott, citing those Republicans who lost in both primaries and general elections in 2008 and 2010. “That last couple of years of the Bush administration were a real drag.”

And even while Bush’s numbers tick back up, the wariness of conservatives toward Beltway Republicans remains.

“Congress is a tough springboard for a presidential run under any circumstances, but it’s even harder in the anti-establishment political climate we’re in,” said GOP ad-maker Todd Harris. “Spending a few decades in Washington is probably not the best resume builder to be an outsider presidential candidate.”

For those Republican members of Congress who managed to survive the 2006 and 2008 general elections and the stormy 2010 primary season, some of their past positions would have surely haunted them.

Even an ardent conservative like former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum — one of the Republicans swept away in 2006 –already has been forced to offer a mea culpa over his support for earmarks as a member of the House and Senate.