care bill , in part because he felt there were not enough medical malpractice reforms , and he voted against the stimulus bill . But he was centrist on social issues , a supporter of abortion rights and gay rights . He was concerned about the environment and climate change and was no great fan of the National Rifle Association . In other words , he was no hyperconservative warrior but an excellent fit for his state , and one of the most broadly popular politicians precisely because he was center-right . He was consequently considered an easy pick to succeed Vice President Joe Biden in the Senate and flip the seat from Democrat to Republican . But in the tea party-driven purges of 2010 , Mike Castle was considered a traitor to the conservative cause because he had a record of working across the aisle . And so they turned to activist and serial candidate Christine O'Donnell . Keep a few things in mind . O'Donnell had just five in-state donations in the first quarter of the 2010 cycle . But in the third quarter , as the RINO-hunting fever took hold , she received a quarter-million dollars in
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- One year ago this week , America got a wake-up call about a core problem in our politics that empowers ideological extremists and special interests . On September 14 , 2010 , both Delaware Rep. Mike Castle and Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty lost closed partisan primaries , depriving most voters of a chance to vote for them in a general election . One a Republican and the other a Democrat , they both fell prey to a system that is rigged to punish political independence and that artificially polarizes American politics . Each of their stories is worth retelling . One gave us Christine O'Donnell , and the other was regarded as a serious , but hopefully temporary , setback to education reform . Call it a case of RINO -LRB- Republican in name only -RRB- - hunting and DINO-hunting -- the results are far-reaching . Mike Castle was a former governor and longtime Republican congressman from Delaware . He had established a fiscally conservative record as the successor to supply-sider Pete DuPont , balancing the budget and cutting tax rates three times . As a congressman , he voted against President Barack Obama 's health