To hell with orthodoxy...

[amjucsc]

I came across this artile on The New Republic website , which suggests that the Dems may be letting conditions other than electability influence the party's choices for Senate and House candidates in '06. I worry that the party may wind up nominating peopl who flatter our ideological proclivities, but still wont be able to actually win. I'm willing to accept a pro life Democratic candidate if it means getting Rick Santorum out of the Senate, and I'd be appalled if the party blew another important election in Maryland (in this case by picking a candidate unpalatable to white suburban voters.)

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MS. BUSINESS AS USUAL

Ever since she managed Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign, Donna Brazile has styled herself as a blunt-speaking liberal pundit who dresses down fellow Democrats with tough love and homespun wisdom. "Whoever becomes the new chairman cannot go back to business as usual," Brazile wrote in a typical December 2004 New York Times op-ed. But a column Brazile wrote for Roll Call this week was a classic example of just that. 

Brazile's topic was the upcoming Democratic primary for the Maryland Senate seat being vacated next year by Paul Sarbanes. Several qualified Democrats--including Representatives Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin--have expressed interest in the seat. But Brazile is insisting that the party unite behind former naacp President Kweisi Mfume. Why? "This is about African Americans and other loyal constituencies receiving a return on 40 years of investing our valuable political capital in the Democratic Party," Brazile proclaims, adding: "any black and progressive voters intend to claim this seat for one of their own." 

Evidently, Brazile's idea of rousting Democrats from their doldrums is a return to 1984 and the identity politics that sowed the party's decline. And here we thought ostensibly bare-knuckled Democrats like Brazile had resolved to play electoral politics as cannily as Republicans, lest they never recapture Congress or the White House. Yet it's apparently not enough for Brazile that Democrats nominate someone who will work to improve the lives of African Americans. That nominee must also be an African American. (Further, for some reason, he must be Mfume, even though Mfume is only one of three established African American politicians to express interest in running.) 

Brazile never even bothers to address the critical question of whether Mfume offers Democrats the best chance of retaining Sarbanes's seat, a notion doubted by some party strategists. Indeed, in the issue of Roll Call in which Brazile's column appears, another story cited deep skepticism about Mfume from veteran Maryland Democrats. "How on earth does a guy who has run as a Black Power candidate--what does he say to the other two-thirds of the state?" asked one. An unnamed former aide to a black representative added, "The Republicans would love to run against him in the general." 

Alas, Brazile's position isn't unique. It echoes the ire of pro-choice absolutists who are protesting the party's support of pro-lifer Bob Casey Jr. as a challenger to Pennsylvania GOP Senator Rick Santorum, and who helped keep Rhode Island's Jim Langevin, another pro-lifer, from challenging incumbent GOP Senator Lincoln Chafee. Somewhere, Karl Rove is snickering.

[Ken Burch]

1. On the Pennslyvania race, let me remind you that Bob Casey Jr.,

who may well be a good Senate candidate, is "anti-choice", not "pro-life."

If Casey Jr, were "pro-life" he would be antiwar and anti-death penalty, not just anti-abortion.

BTW, can you tell me what Van Hollen or Cardin are like?
Are they real Democrats or DLC?

If they are DLC, I can see Brazile's point.