Republicans skip convention

Sen. Dean Heller, who has said he may not attend the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., this year, would have a lot of Republican company.

A number of his fellow GOP senate candidates—Connecticut’s Linda McMahon, Virginia’s George Allen, New Mexico’s Heather Wilson and Montana’s Denny Rehberg—are skipping the convention.

So are U.S. Reps. Joe Walsh of Illinois and Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland, both George Bushes and both their wives, and former Utah governor and presidential candidate Jon Huntsman. Huntsman’s absence is in protest against what he considers the party’s failure to drop polarizing or minor issues to offer “problem solving, inclusiveness and a willingness to address the trust deficit.”Meanwhile, Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, an alleged Democrat who won reelection as an independent and spoke for Republican presidential nominee John McCain at the 2008 GOP convention, does not yet have an invitation to either 2012 convention.