My must read of the day, "GOP Hawks Sink Libertarian Bid to Lead Key House Conservative Bloc," by Lachlan Markay, in the Washington Free Beacon:
The demise of the Republican hawk has been greatly exaggerated, if Tuesday’s House leadership elections are any indicator.
Defense-oriented conservatives won out in races for the chairmanships of key House panels, and in at least one case, a member’s perceived weakness on defense issues may have scuttled his bid to lead an influential bloc of House conservatives.
Tuesday’s leadership elections, which will determine some of the most influential lawmakers of the 114th Congress, could prove another setback for what was once perceived as a rising tide of libertarianism in the GOP and an accompanying aversion to military intervention and defense spending.
That sort of noninterventionist position contributed to the defeat of Rep. Mick Mulvaney’s (R., S.C.) bid to lead the Republican Study Committee, a 173-member bloc of the party’s most conservative members.
This was actually one of the more interesting votes that occurred yesterday, and you could have easily missed it because you were busy watching Sen. Mary Landrieu’s (D., La.) Keystone debacle.
When I spoke to congressional staffers from offices whipping votes in favor of Rep. Bill Flores (R., Texas) they told me their support was predominately because Flores would support increasing defense spending, whereas Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R., S.C.)—a "deficit hawk"—would advocate for cutting it.
In an internal race, Flores and Mulvaney quickly became representative of the Republican foreign policy divide that we in the press love to talk about, especially in terms of 2016.
Who knows what it means for the presidential race, but if you want to see the various ideological divides between the libertarian/Tea Party wing of the Republican Party and the so-called establishment—the RSC Chairmanship is a perfect example of it. From immigration to defense spending those divides were neatly packaged in Flores and Mulvaney. This time, the "establishment" won.