Conservatives resent NRSC nods

(Politico) - When Jane Norton officially joined an already crowded Colorado Republican Senate primary Tuesday, she had a helping hand from the National Republican Senatorial Committee. The NRSC, it turned out, had already been unofficially working behind the scenes in advance of her announcement to reserve several domain names for her campaign website.

It was a small boost to the Norton campaign but one that provided a revealing insight into the NRSC’s thinking. Far from playing a passive role in the 2010 Senate primaries and then working to elect the eventual nominee, the committee under Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) has vigorously inserted itself into a number of races in an attempt to handpick the GOP nominees it perceives as best suited to win.

The NRSC has already officially endorsed five candidates and has worked behind the scenes on behalf of several other committee favorites who are facing contested primaries.

It’s a strategy that could land the party with a roster of highly electable candidates who could go a long way toward shrinking the party’s current deficit in the Senate. But it’s also an approach that is infuriating many activists who don’t like the idea of the national party stepping in and playing favorites — especially when it means picking a moderate over a conservative.