NRSC Vice-Chairman Orrin Hatch said today that he doesn’t believe former Congressman Pat Toomey has a chance to beat newly turned Democrat Arlen Specter in next year’s Senate race in Pennsylvania. Hatch even suggested that the NRSC may seek to recruit a candidate to run against Toomey.

“I don’t think there is anybody in the world who believes he can get elected senator there,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch, the vice chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Asked if the NRSC would back Toomey, Hatch said, “I don’t think so” and that the party should look for “someone who can win there.”

The Chairman of the NRSC, Texas Senator John Cornyn, has yet to endorse Toomey and said today that he wasn’t sure that Toomey would be the “only candidate” or the “strongest candidate” either. In fact, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham suggested a name today that has been thrown around in political circles since Specter’s defection - Tom Ridge. The reluctance of the NRSC to get on board Toomey’s campaign, especially in the wake of Specter’s defection, is troubling. What kind of Republican party does the GOP leadership in Washington want to have?

Yesterday, Jim DeMint, South Carolina’s conservative Senator, said, “I would rather have 30 Republicans in the Senate who really believe in principles of limited government, free markets, free people, than to have 60 that don’t have a set of beliefs.” This begs the question, where does Tom Ridge fall on that spectrum? RedState’s Erick Erickson has an idea.

Ridge is the only Republican who makes Specter appear conservative. He is pro-abortion, anti-school choice, and pro-tax. He was also not exactly stellar as Secretary of Homeland Security, though the present Secretary there makes him look sharp in contrast.

That record does not fit with DeMint’s vision of a GOP Senate, and should set off warning bells with conservatives across the country. Republicans lost heavily in the last two cycles primarily because they had abandoned the very principles they campaigned on. They got fat on the pork and power of being in the majority for such a long time and lost track with the very electorate that they needed to return them to office. A move to back Ridge in Pennsylvania, may seem like a good way to challenge Specter, but is it really the way to rebuild the Republican brand so tarnished by poor policy choices in the last several years?

Again, Erick Erickson, “If the NRSC were to come out in favor of a pro-choice Bushie in Pennsylvania, it would be suicide for their fundraising efforts among conservatives.”

The NRSC offered no comment today when I asked them to clarify the Chairman’s stance on Toomey’s campaign. I have to hope though that Cornyn, a solid Texas conservative who was once my boss, does not let himself get pushed and pulled by Graham, Hatch, and other Washington interests into recruiting and supporting former Secretary Ridge in this election. Pat Toomey is exactly the kind of conservative voice that Republicans need in the US Senate, and with Specter’s exit, Toomey is well positioned to gain enough momentum, support and money to give Snarlin’ Arlen a real fight come November 2010. If the GOP leadership in Washington can’t get behind a quality candidate like Toomey, maybe it’s time to put folks like Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn in charge.