Republican Leadership Battle

Something interesting has come up in the battle for the republican leadership. Virtually none of the rank and file party members seem to care. From the Washington Post:

The lack of grass-roots enthusiasm for broad changes on Capitol Hill may work to the advantage of Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), several legislators said. By most estimates, he is leading the race to become the next House majority leader -- despite his extensive connections to lobbyists, including some involved in the Abramoff scandal.

Blunt's right-hand man, Rep. Eric I. Cantor (R-Va.), another member of Rep. Tom DeLay's leadership team, is similarly favored to replace Blunt as majority whip, the third-ranking party leadership post.

The absence of a grass-roots rebellion has hindered the insurgent leadership campaigns of Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) and others who are calling for fundamental changes in the way House Republicans govern in Washington, lawmakers said. Shadegg is running a distant third behind Blunt and Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), a longtime GOP insider with close ties to lobbyists.

Even some political junkies are yawning at the race. "Ethanol subsidies are more interesting," a reader of the Web log of the conservative National Review, which has endorsed Shadegg, wrote yesterday.

This could mean a lot of different things. These are tough tea leaves to read. It could mean that republican activists are content with the status quo, it could mean that rank and file party members are simply turned off by politics right now, or it could mean that average republicans simply have more important things to worry about.

I'm betting that they are content with the status quo, which could very well be a death knell for some swing district republicans.

One thing is for sure, republicans just don't seem to be as energized as they have been in recent cycles.