Senate Conservatives Fund — Still watching Patrick Hughes in IL-SEN

The American Spectator blog read a little too much into this comment made by Senator Jim DeMint about Patrick Hughes in the IL-SEN race:

"I've talked to Patrick. He is very intriguing. I can only help a certain number of candidates. I want to make sure we have viable candidates; folks who have at least some base out there that they can raise some money put together a campaign organization."

The Spectator incorrectly concludes that Hughes will not receive DeMint's endorsement. The truth is that DeMint has not made a decision yet. He's monitoring the race and still evaluating Hughes.

We believe it is too early to count Hughes out. Congressman Mark Kirk has a very liberal record, and if Republican voters learn about both candidates they will certainly choose Hughes. The question is whether the Hughes campaign can get its message out in time for the February 2 primary.

We recognize the significant challenges facing Hughes in this race but winning is not impossible. All you have to do is look at what happened in just 30 days in the NY-23 race to see what conservatives can do if they get engaged.

Establishment Republicans want to lock this race up for Kirk but we still believe it's too soon.

UPDATE: We closed out our IL-SEN poll. The results were overwhelmingly positive for Hughes. 88% of our members said they thought SCF should endorse Hughes and $118,575 was pledged if such an endorsement occurs.