The American Spectator

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Special Report

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Some support Giuliani more out of resignation than enthusiasm. Only Rudy can beat Hillary, they say. They fear that the same blight that makes the Northeast politically inhospitable to social conservatives has spread to key swing states in the Midwest and the Sun Belt.

Without a presidential candidate there to rally the troops on Saturday, the job fell to Coburn and Inhofe, who announced he will seek a third full Senate term next year. He isn't counting on coattails from the presidential nominee but is already working to energize his core voters and enlist them as volunteers and donors.

Environmentalist groups have targeted Inhofe for his vocal skepticism about man-made global warming. Not intimidated in the least, Inhofe fired up the crowd with video clips of his clashes with CNN's Miles O'Brien -- Inhofe called him "the Rush Limbaugh of the liberals" -- and Sen. Barbara Boxer, his successor as chairman of the Senate Environment Committee.

No Democratic challenger to Inhofe has emerged. Gov. Brad Henry, re-elected in a landslide last fall, says he isn't interested. The most serious threat to Inhofe could come from a public official wealthy enough to self-finance -- someone like Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor, the wife of Vanguard Car Rental CEO Bill Lobeck, or Sonic CEO Cliff Hudson, who also serves as chairman of the Oklahoma City school board.

The state isn't a lock for the GOP, which suffered a near-shutout in statewide races last fall, even as the party consolidated its 2004 takeover of the State House and fought to a draw in the State Senate for the first time since statehood.

But Jim Inhofe is the kind of outspoken, uncompromising politician that Oklahoma Republicans love to follow into battle. Inhofe will give these red state activists plenty of the red meat they crave, however unappetizing the top of the ticket may be.

topics:
Foreign Policy, John McCain, Environment, Global Warming