Sarah Palin has endorsed Sarah Steelman in Missouri. Conservatives divided in Mo., Wis.

The conservative players known for leaving a mark in Republican primaries are largely divided over their preferences in a pair of late summer Senate slugfests.

That dissonance is further complicating candidates’ efforts in Missouri and Wisconsin to distinguish themselves as the genuine conservative article as they move to inch ahead of the pack in the final weeks of their campaigns.


Consider the jumble in the Missouri contest to decide Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill’s fall opponent. On Tuesday Sarah Palin announced her endorsement of Sarah Steelman — joining the Tea Party Express in support of the former state treasurer. But former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee recently traveled to one of the Show Me State’s most conservative counties to personally bestow his blessing on Rep. Todd Akin. And FreedomWorks embraced self-funding businessman John Brunner’s burgeoning candidacy in May.

In Wisconsin, it’s a similar scenario.

Sen. Jim DeMint and the Club for Growth were early backers of former Rep. Mark Neumann, who had high hopes of branding himself the most principled conservative in the four-way Republican field. Yet last week, FreedomWorks’ political action committee jumbled the narrative by throwing its weight behind wealthy hedge fund manager Eric Hovde.

“In Wisconsin, a lot of the groups got in before Hovde was in the race. I’m not sure they would do the same had they waited,” said FreedomWorks vice president of public policy and government affairs Max Pappas, who personally grilled each GOP candidate in Missouri and Wisconsin in separate 90-minute sessions.

Even former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, who has been fending off attacks for his past support of an individual health care mandate, can claim conservative bona fides thanks to an early glowing endorsement from Huckabee. The former Arkansas governor is popular among socially conservative voters, but critics such as Pappas say his nod carries less weight with those most concerned about fiscal issues.

The divide has both races in flux.

While Brunner and Thompson maintain tenuous front-runner status, the prevailing wisdom among Republican operatives is that their support is soft and that many voters are still able to be persuaded.

Brunner and Hovde, both previously political unknowns who have tapped millions of their personal fortune to lift their name identification, have benefited from being outsiders without a trail of potentially radioactive policy positions and votes.

“What came through loud and clear was, ‘We want somebody new. We don’t want these guys who keep running,’” said Pappas, who sifted through hundreds of survey responses from the more than 20,000 FreedomWorks members in each state.

But DeMint and the Club for Growth are sticking with Neumann precisely because of the record he compiled during his four-year stint in Congress.

They point to his 1995 flare-up with Republican leaders over his refusal to support a spending bill. Neumann’s intransigence got him booted from the Appropriations Committee, which prompted him to pen a defiant letter to his colleagues saying he came to Washington to “vote my conscience.”

Last week, the Club put $700,000 behind its first television ad in the Badger State, whacking Hovde as “worse” than Thompson on tax policy.

Yet in Missouri, the two powerhouse conservative fixtures have been noticeably silent.

DeMint’s Senate Conservatives Fund, which has endorsed Ted Cruz in Texas and Rep. Jeff Flake in Arizona, has stayed on the sidelines in the fight to take on McCaskill.

“We are watching it very closely to see how each candidate performs as the contest intensifies. If a principled standout emerges, we won’t hesitate to get involved. This is a critical race, and it’s important that Republicans nominate someone who has the courage to oppose liberal policies like congressional earmarks and the budget-busting farm bill,” said SCF spokesman Matt Hoskins.

The latter half of that statement indicates DeMint is unlikely to back Akin, who has been a prolific earmarker during his career, including $14 million in requests as recently as 2010, according to OpenSecrets.org. It also highlights a potential concern with Brunner, who has refused to take a position on the farm bill.

Asked why the Club hadn’t engaged in Missouri, spokesman Barney Keller replied, “We don’t feel the need to get involved in every race.”

In relatively low-turnout affairs in the dead of August, a late endorsement from a conservative luminary can be a market-mover, especially among the highly engaged activists most likely to vote.

But not all endorsements are equal. And there is none more prized than Palin, the former vice presidential candidate who has a penchant for backing surging — often female — challengers late in the game.

Palin backed state Sen. Deb Fischer six days before her upset victory in Nebraska, and Richard Mourdock 11 days prior to his 20-point rout of Indiana Sen. Dick Lugar.

Steelman was elated by Palin’s nod.

“I am deeply honored and humbled to have earned the endorsement of Gov. Palin, whose willingness to stand up and fight for what is right, regardless of the political consequences, has blazed a trail for conservatives who believe as we do, that the status quo has got to go,” Steelman said in a statement. “I am ready to join Gov. Palin and lead the fight in the Senate to restore fiscal discipline and speak truth to power by putting this country back into the hands of the people!”

Brunner attempted to reach out to Palin through a letter in April, pointing out how he, too, is “not an entrenched member of the political establishment” and praising her “grace and resiliency in the face of extreme left-wing attacks.”

But just a month later, he appeared to lose his chance at the coveted endorsement after telling a conservative talk radio show host that Palin’s controversial “cross hairs map” of congressional districts took conservatives off message.

“You think, oh, for crying out loud,” Brunner told St. Louis-based conservative talk show host Dana Loesch.

A spokesman for Akin could not say if the campaign had reached out to the former Alaska governor.

Not lost on these campaigns is Palin’s Senate scorecard this cycle: She’s 3-0.