Young Guns

The Eric Cantor-affiliated Young Guns Network has recently jumped into the Indiana Senate primary on behalf of Dick Lugar, paying for mailers that criticize Lugar's opponent, Richard Mourdock, for wanting to cut federal education funding. Politico's Jonathan Martin reports why this could backfire--on House Republicans:

The Young Guns Network, a group affiliated with House Republican majority leader Eric Cantor, is encouraging Democrats in Indiana to vote in the May 8 GOP primary for incumbent senator Dick Lugar.

The three House Republicans who founded Young Guns—Eric Cantor, Kevin McCarthy, and Paul Ryan—weren’t much of a force when they banded together in 2007. And they weren’t all that young, either. Cantor was 44, McCarthy 42, Ryan 37. Four years later, their influence has zoomed and Young Guns is a brand.

Back in 2007, THE WEEKLY STANDARD heralded the arrival of three rising Republicans in the House who weren’t then household names. We dubbed them the Young Guns. Eric Cantor of Virginia was the deputy whip, a backbencher elevated by then-whip Roy Blunt. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin hadn’t quite come into his own yet as an influential policy maven. Kevin McCarthy of California was a freshman with a gift for understanding the ups and downs of electoral politics. The three were “agitating for the party to return to its small-government roots and to retake the House.”