MUSKOGEE, Okla. — The mailers arrived in people’s homes mysteriously, hitting some of the most conservative lawmakers in Oklahoma.
George Faught, a hard-line Republican running for his sixth term in the Oklahoma House, was attacked for not being a true conservative. Another Republican incumbent had a flier accusing him of “working to expand Obamacare.” The men called each other, sharing notes: Who was doing this?
By the time they found out, nearly all of them had lost in primary runoffs in August. The campaign against the hard-liners, they discovered, was coming from inside the caucus.
“Once you cut out the cancer that was attacking us, we’re now in a position to heal and move forward,” said State Representative Chris Kannady, a moderate Republican who has gone public as the ringleader of the internal purge, which he called the Project.
