Known by the company you keep (Part I): Christine O'Donnell

Okay, okay, this one's so easy it's almost a cheap shot, but, since O'Donnell is a Tea Party darling and one of Sarah Palin's "Momma Grizzlies," let's talk about her anyway. 

O'Donnell's dad was a TV actor who apparently played Bozo the Clown.  She holds a bachelor's degree in English literature, which (contrary to her campaign literature) she did not receive until this year.  She and her serial campaign organizations (she is a perennial candidate for public office) consistently misrepresent her academic credentials (no, she never attended Oxford or Princeton University).   O'Donnell is a former Catholic turned evangelical Christian.  Unsurprisingly, she is emphatically anti-abortion, and has actively supported the Right to Life movement.  She is the founder of The Savior's Alliance for Lifting the Truth, and has lobbied on moral issues and "Christian values" as its President.  She has actively courted publicity, as a political commentator on Fox News and a regular guest panelist on Bill Maher's "Politically Incorrect."

O'Donnell, who seems to have never had a steady job, has a history of financial embarrassment.  There was the $4800 tuition bill for which Farleigh Dickinson had to sue her - it remained unpaid for almost 10 years.  In 2008, O'Donnell's mortgage company obtained a $90,000 judgment against her.  In 2010, the IRS filed a tax lien for $11,000 in back taxes O'Donnell has owed since 2005.  O'Donnell has been dogged by questions about her personal use of political campaign funds, as alleged by her own former campaign employees.

In addition to her well-publicized views on masturbation (it's a sin), witchcraft (she unknowingly "dabbled" on a Satanic altar) and Italian food (she might have been a Hare Krishna except that she couldn't give up meatballs), O'Donnell's positions and beliefs include the following:

• evolution is a myth, and there is at least as much evidence supporting creationism;
• homosexuals suffer from an "identity disorder";
• embryonic stem cell research is immoral;
• she has classified information indicating that the People's Republic of China is plotting to take over the United States;
• Democrats have stopped America from achieving energy independence;
• Democrats are trying to dismantle the Second Amendment;
• she would never vote for any tax increase; and
• she would repeal the health care reform legislation passed in 2010.

The Tea Party not only endorsed O'Donnell, but donated over $150K (if you watch CNN) or $250K (if you watch Fox News) to her primary campaign.  Since O'Donnell won the primary, the Tea Party Express (a California-based political consulting firm) has indicated that it might spend as much as $600K on O'Donnell's senatorial campaign.  On October 2, 2010, Delaware's News Journal reported that O'Donnell's campaign has raised more money from out-of-state contributors than from Delaware voters.  O'Donnell is much more visible on the national political stage than she is in Delaware;  tomorrow night, CNN will air a live broadcast her debate against Delaware's Democratic Senatorial candidate, Chris Coons.
What kind of people would contribute $150K, or $250K, or $600K, to support a candidate with O'Donnell's history and beliefs?  Would people in Delaware really rather be represented by O'Donnell than by Coons (a former county executive who holds law and divinity degrees from Yale)?   Or is she just a decoy, as Ralph Reed has said?