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But that doesn't mean all the Establishment muscle will carry the day. A new political era marked by online organizing, an abundance of new conservative media outlets and disaffection with D.C. has shifted the GOP's center of gravity toward the grassroots. As a result, outfits like the Club for Growth, the Senate Conservatives Fund, Heritage Action for America and the Madison Project have emerged as the new wave of power brokers. For this crowd, standing up to the GOP is as important as saying no to Obama. "For us, it's about policy," says Barney Keller, a spokesman for the Club for Growth, which is not endorsing in Alabama. "For them, it's about party. That's the difference."
Over in Mississippi, the Club for Growth is vying to oust GOP Senator Thad Cochran. Multiple groups are targeting Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who is regarded by Tea Party types as too quick to compromise with Democrats and too free with federal dollars. Other Senate stalwarts--including Tennessee's Lamar Alexander, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Pat Roberts of Kansas and Wyoming's Mike Enzi--are tapping Establishment connections to finance campaigns capable of fending off right-wing challengers. The rebels insist it won't matter. Business lobbies "no longer have the ability to scare the Republicans in Congress," says Dean Clancy, vice president of public policy at the conservative group FreedomWorks, which may wade into as many as 45 congressional races. "They're seeing the power structure change, and they don't like it."
A Fight for the GOP Soul
On a bright October morning, as Byrne joins a reporter over breakfast at a local greasy spoon, it is easy to see why the GOP's business wing is keen to see him prevail. A George W. Bush look-alike with deep local ties and a polished demeanor, Byrne, 58, wants to repeal Obamacare and slash federal spending. He cites as his model conservative Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, who spearheaded opposition to immigration reform. He's fond of pragmatic maxims about how to make government work better. And he thinks Young is off the deep end. "My opponent would be the most extreme person in the U.S. Congress," Byrne says. "He is unique in how far he is willing to go."
But extremism may be no vice in this race. Everywhere Young goes in southwest Alabama, he makes the same solemn promise to voters. "If Ted Cruz is the most conservative Senator," Young says of the Texan who helped shut down the federal government, "I will be one of the most conservative Congressmen." The goateed businessman with the gruff drawl doesn't have much else to brag about. His ramshackle campaign has no headquarters and one paid staffer. Young, 49, runs the effort out of his garage with the help of his wife, who handles the phones.
Certainly Young speaks the language of antigovernment rebellion more fluently than Byrne. "I will shut it down again," he tells TIME. Young sounded a states'-rights battle cry by positioning himself as a leading opponent of a proposal to turn the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta into a national park. And he has tapped into the same strain of religious ardor that twice elected Roy Moore, the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, who earned national renown when he refused to remove a 5,280-lb. granite slab inscribed with the Ten Commandments from a state courthouse.