#NCSEN: Draft Mark Meadows for, um, SENATE ????

That’s what the website says.  The 11th district congressman has become a hero in Tea Party circles for his resistance to House leadership efforts to abandon conservatism.  He had his subcommittee chairmanship snatched away.  His diminutive prepubescent colleague, Patrick McHenry, chided him for “siding with Democrats” and not being a “team player.”meadows

NCGOP chairman Hasan Harnett has spoken out in support of Meadows.  Grassroots activists from across the state and the country have taken to cyberspace and the phone lines to voice their displeasure over the treatment of Meadows by the House leadership.

Meadows got his chairmanship reinstated.  But that might not be enough to calm this thing down.

Recent rankings released by Heritage Action showed Meadows to be tied for most conservative in the North Carolina delegation, while US senator Richard Burr is the most liberal Republican in the delegation.  Already in trouble with Tea Partiers and grassroots types, many started seeing Meadows as a potential champion in the quest to dethrone Burr and exile him to Winston-Salem.

There has been no official word from the Meadows camp as to whether the congressman — who has DEEP pockets — would accept the challenge of taking on the state’s senior senator in the 2016 GOP primary.  With no Democrat challengers in sight, all of the action in this race might be played out in the GOP primary. Stay tuned.