Apart from the democratic morality and constitutationality of nationalizing local elections, another more pragmatic question remains: Is it smart? Does it work? Look at this email I got today from Moveon.org:
It’s absurd—Joe Lieberman is throwing a fundraiser this week to protect Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine, one of the key pro-war votes and one of the most vulnerable Republican senators.
Lieberman is still sort of a Democrat, and Collins has always been sort of a Republican, so it makes sense that one would work for the other.
Interestingly, Collins is also one of the Senators that Kerry targeted. It is because she is a moderate Republican that she is vunerable. The GOP does not support, does not even like her. And New England is getting bluer and bluer. So let’s say that Collins does feel pressure from a Kerry-funded opponent, how will she react?
a) Move further left. This is the point of the campaign, to get her to vote with the Democrats on key issues like Iraq.
b) Move further right. Differentiate herself from her opponent, appeal to the GOP base, and use the advantages of incumbency to retain her seat.
So here you have someone who already votes with the Democrats frequently. By working against her, there’s a good chance that you may force her further right. You also further diminish the centrist part of the Senate, already whittled down beyond belief.
(Sid: In Kerry’s letter, he calls out how he is going after four vunerable Senators, and Mitch McConnell. As he says, “McConnell is the top ranking Republican in the Senate. Where our other targets are weak links at the fringes of their party, going after McConnell is getting to the heart of the matter. McConnell has been a bulwark of the GOP leadership and if we can distract, or even defeat him, with a tough electoral challenge in 2008, we’ll send a clear message that no Senator is safe if they insist on trying to stop the Democratic Senate from enacting the will of the American people. Polls in his own state show him to be vulnerable to a strong challenge; let’s make sure we give him one.” I’m not sure I agree with Kerry, but he is not deluding himself that is an easy task.)
Question to my suddenly voluble commenters: Are Kerry’s tactics good ones? Is it an effective to spend money? Will it help or hurt the Democrats?
That will be interesting to see. Kerry did spend a lot of 2006 organizing and helping in other Senate races. He funded a lot of them, passing on his own campaign money and raising more for them. I don’t remember how many personal appearances he did though, so you may be right. Aaron, do you know anything here?
Muttrox — on Kerry — I voted for him, and I’m not sorry that I voted for him. He was clearly the better candidate, and I certainly wish he was president today rather than Bush. But I just don’t think there’s a long line of politicians waiting in line at Kerry’s office asking him to show up in their districts and campaign for them. He lost, he made public blunders, made idiotic attempts at apologies, and has generally done poorly, in my opinion, in public relations.
But we’ll see come the Democratic convention. If you’re right, then Kerry will get a prominent prime time slot where his 59M fans can see him in all of his glory, as the man who came a few Ohio votes shy of being our 44th president. Or, if my hypothesis is right, he’ll be buried at a time when the convention is solely on C-Span, barely registering a blip on the political radar screen.
Muttrox – yah, I caught that. creeped me the hell out. Could have been part of a sequel to Chien Andalusia
*breaks into classic Pixies*
Doctor, I’m getting annoyed by comments from you and Sid about Kerry being a loser. Yes, he lost. That doesn’t mean you should even ask questions like “Is he popular anywhere?” Yes, he is. Of course he is. I’m sorry you don’t like him so much, but you don’t speak for the 59,000,000 people who voted for him. (Compared to Bush’s 62,000,000.)
Google is amazing. I went to look up that number, put in 2004 in the search box, and it already suggested I look for 2004 national popular vote totals. Spooky.
Moleboy: That’s a great story. Gravel is just freaky. Have you seen his artschool campaign ad? It looks like something Andy Kauffman would have made.
btw, pop over to gravel’s website, and you’ll see that congress may become a vestigial organ (no, not really, but hey…)
http://www.gravel2008.us/national_initiative
there’s a funny bit on crooks and liars on it:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/06/19/gravel-we-dont-need-no-stinkin-constitution/
I chased Gravel down as he was leaving, shoulder to shoulder with Ralph Nader. It gave me no pleasure to ask him, “Senator, isn’t what you just described a ‘bill of attainder’?â€[..]
Here’s the exchange that ensued:
“Are you a Constitutional expert?â€
“No, I’m a journalist.â€
“Well, Congress can do any g**d***ed thing that it wants.â€
by “plan”, I really meant post-election.
You would have thought that winning both houses would have given the Dems some confidence, maybe even gumption…
alas…
Good idea or bad idea, I just think it’s politics as usual nowadays. Find vulnerable incumbents, and throw huge wads of money in that direction to try for the upset.
Is Kerry actually going to campaign up in Maine? Is he popular there? Is he popular anywhere? Maybe the Dems could use his cash, but keep his mug under wraps please. Let’s just keep his bad jokes and duck-hunting duds back in MA.
On the Dems plans, they had one in ’06 that worked. Find centrist candidates, woo the independents, and if the candidates have a resume of gun-ownership, military service, and a general macho factor, all the better. Just find a bunch of Jim Webbs who can say “screw you, Bush” to his face, and that’s a recipe for success. (oh yeah, and finding incumbents who throw around racist slurs doesn’t hurt either)
Just been looking around and she has a very strange voting record.
http://www.vote-smart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=BC032786
Whether or not Kerry’s tactics are wise depends on what the democrats are planning for the next few years.
I’d cross-reference that with her voting record and decide then.
However, since I continue to believe that the Dems HAVE no plan, who can say.
However, mindless opposition is usually a bad idea.