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Tuesday, Feb 19, 2013 10:25 PM UTC

Conservative offers $10K for plan to overtake GOP establishment

“The Liberty Prize" would be awarded to anyone who helps conservatives "take over the Republican Party"

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Topics: Conservatives, Karl Rove, 2016 Elections, Tea Party, Conservative Victory Project, American Crossroads, Richard Viguerie,

Conservative offers $10K for plan to overtake GOP establishment (Credit: spirit of america / Shutterstock.com)

Have a grand scheme to help conservatives oust establishment Republicans, take over the party, and win the White House in 2016? Well, you could just win $10,000 for your trouble.

Richard Viguerie, the Conservative fund-raiser and chairman of Conservative HQ,  announced “The Liberty Prize,” a contest that will award a “$10,000 prize, plus fame, appreciation and the opportunity to save America” to the conservative who comes up with the best plan to “take over the Republican Party, win the November 2016 elections, and govern America by 2017.”

Viguerie, who was a big fan of Rick Santorum in the 2012 presidential race, writes in his announcement:

The most important political battle in America is not between Republicans and Democrats or between conservatives and liberals. It is the battle for control of the Republican Party between establishment big government Republicans and limited government, constitutional conservatives.  It has become clear that establishment Republican and Democratic politicians have failed America because they have both accepted big government as the solution to every problem.

He continues by referencing Karl Rove’s new initiatve to steamroll far-right conservatives, called the Conservative Victory Project, which he writes means that “conservatives must have a well-organized and well-thought-out plan to take control of the GOP from the grassroots up.”

The Conservative Victory Project, pushed by Rove’s Super PAC American Crossroads, has led to a kerfuffle between mainstream Republicans and Tea Partiers who see the new effort as “bullying,” among other things.

Jillian Rayfield is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on politics. Follow her on Twitter at @jillrayfield or email her at jrayfield@salon.com. More Jillian Rayfield.

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