Originally published at NationalJournal.com
By K. Daniel Glover

The directors of RedState last week sent a simple, straightforward message about their support for Arizona Republican John Shadegg as House majority leader: “This matters.”

Unfortunately for RedState’s leaders (and Shadegg), few House Republicans seem to be listening — and they are the only ones with votes in Thursday’s three-way election. Majority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri is the clear frontrunner in the fight to succeed Tom DeLay of Texas, and John Boehner of Ohio has been running a solid second.

The numbers make perfectly clear that the philosophical rift between grassroots bloggers and the Beltway establishment, evident on the left as well as the right, is as wide as ever. The question now is whether GOP bloggers and the next majority leader can bridge the gap between them after the election.

If Shadegg manages an upset, the task should be relatively easy. He will have won the support of his Republican colleagues, and he entered the contest as the darling of right-leaning bloggers.

RedState endorsed Shadegg even before he was a candidate, and a tally at The Truth Laid Bear shows that he has 100 percent of the few blog endorsements in the contest. Shadegg also won plenty of praise after a Jan. 19 conference call with bloggers.

“He hit all the right notes,” Right Wing News proclaimed in giving Shadegg an overall grade of A. And Ed Morrissey of Captain’s Quarters added that electing Shadegg would “send a clear message” that House Republicans are serious about ethics and reform in the wake of party ties to corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

“Shadegg is the most conservative of the candidates for majority leader and the least connected to the K Street Project and the Washington establishment more generally,” said Thomas Mann, a scholar at the Brookings Institution. “This gives him natural appeal with conservative bloggers.”

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