Tea party candidates have a benefactor in business-funded Boehner

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Washington Post:

By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 21, 2010; 2:13 PM

House Minority Leader John Boehner has long had a knack for raising campaign funds from Wall Street firms and blue-chip corporations, which he typically spreads among rank and file House Republicans to bolster loyalty.

But this year, Boehner is using a different strategy as he tries to position himself as the next House speaker. He's diverted more than a quarter-million dollars of his business-funded war chest to 29 avowedly anti-establishment candidates who have been endorsed by elements of the tea party.

The donations to tea party hopefuls from Oregon to Alabama show more than the Republican Party's broad embrace of insurgents in a year when Democrats are on the defensive. They also appear to reflect Boehner's pragmatic desire to promote ties with a new crop of impassioned conservatives, some of whom could hold the keys to a Republican takeover of the House.