The Republican leadership on Capitol Hill will face a difficult task of controlling a new intake of lawmakers who have run on a ticket of contempt for the way it does business.
"Out go the country-club Republicans like Mitt Romney, in come the grass-roots revolutionaries like Sarah Palin," said Norm Ornstein of the conservative American Enterprise Institute. "America just became a lot more ungovernable than it already was."
Focus shifts right as Tea Party triumphs
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| Face of change: Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell speaks to her supporters after her upset victory |
The race to choose the Republican who will take on Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election took a sharp turn to the right with the victory of Christine O'Donnell, the hardline Tea Party candidate, for the Delaware Senate nomination.
Ms O'Donnell's victory on Tuesday night, aided by a last-minute endorsement from Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska, sent shock waves through the Republican establishment, which now finds itself as much under siege as the Obama administration.
Ms O'Donnell defeated Mike Castle, the long-running nomination favourite who had been endorsed by most of the establishment Republicans.
But the biggest casualty of her victory may be Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, whose presidential ambitions are starting to look increasingly quixotic.
By contrast, Ms Palin's stock rose sharply. She is due to speak on Friday at a big fundraising dinner in Iowa, which holds the all-important first caucus in the presidential nomination calendar.
"The Republican party is getting dragged further and further to the right and that is good news for people like Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich," said David Frum, a Republican commentator. "But for Mitt Romney it spells disaster."
In an ordinary electoral cycle, Mr Romney would be the favourite for the 2012 Repblican nomination, and polls still show him technically in the lead.
But among the grassroots conservatives increasingly dominating the party, Mr Romney's success in pushing through a healthcare reform in Massachusetts that is slightly to the left of "Obamacare" could prove fatal to his chances.
On Wednesday, Mr Romney shifted his weight on to his other Achilles heel – his reputation for pandering. Despite leading conservatives, such as Karl Rove, George W. Bush's former electoral manager, and Charles Krauthammer, the columnist, dismissing Ms O'Donnell as a dishonest character, Mr Romney donated $5,000 to her campaign and so distanced himself from her critics.
Ms O'Donnell's victory is also likely to have a chilling effect on the few Republican moderates left in Congress, particularly the handful of senators, including Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, who will be facing re-election in the next two or four years.
Although the Republican party's chance of regaining the Senate has suffered a blow, polls show it on track to take control of the House in November.
The Republican leadership on Capitol Hill will face a difficult task of controlling a new intake of lawmakers who have run on a ticket of contempt for the way it does business.
"Out go the country-club Republicans like Mitt Romney, in come the grass-roots revolutionaries like Sarah Palin," said Norm Ornstein of the conservative American Enterprise Institute. "America just became a lot more ungovernable than it already was."
Ms Palin caught the mood of her party with a blunt Tweet: "Lamestream media: Listen/Learn/Don't underestimate the wisdom of the people. Times, they r a'changin!"
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