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- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Robert Schlesinger
Meet Senators Jim DeMint, Republican gadfly of South Carolina, and Blanche Lincoln, Democratic punching bag from Arkansas.
For different reasons, they may well represent the new shape of politics in America.
To many of his
In another age, the behavior of such a backbencher would be irrelevant and self-defeating. You had to go
along to get along. But in the era of instant communications, online social networking, and viral
politics, he has established a power base independent of his party. He is a hero to the kind of grass-roots
conservatives who view Washington as the heart of enemy territory. He has become the
Capitol's highest-profile ally of the
For several years, Democrats tacked in the opposite direction.
They cooperated with the good fortune of an increasingly toxic Republican president and party by
supporting candidates whose profiles fit their districts' politics. In states like
Arkansas, that meant conservative Democrats like Lincoln. This produced ideologically
fractious majorities in
But these being Democrats, success has bred division, as the party's liberal base is restive over the slow pace of change in Obama's Washington and specifically over the fact that once in office, conservative Democrats like Lincoln don't start behaving like liberals. So they've embarked on a DeMint-ian quest for progressive purity. "It's time for a pound of flesh," MoveOn.org Communications Director Ilyse Hogue told Politico.
Lincoln is their highest-profile target.
First elected to the
Already a
"When it comes to Democrats, Lincoln is the worst of the worst," MoveOn.org complained in a petition enlisting a primary challenger. But while progressives tout an October poll from Research 2000 showing support for a public option, it seems to be an outlier. Two subsequent nonpartisan polls have shown substantial opposition not only to a public option but generally to the Obama health reform plan (for which, by the way, Lincoln voted).
Progressives got their wish this month when Lt. Gov. Bill Halter announced a primary
challenge from Lincoln's left, touting the public option and riding a wave of national Net-roots love in
the form of more than
And Lincoln is just the start.
MoveOn vowed last week to mount progressive challenges to
any House Democrat who voted against the healthcare bill and quickly drew pledges of more than
Incumbents should not be immune to primary challenges. But activists have to remember that politicians' first allegiance must be to their voters, not simply in a way that national groups think is best for their constituents but that locals do as well. The question that liberal groups have to ask themselves is whether they prefer a majority of "Not enough" or a DeMint-esque minority of "No."
Available at Amazon.com:
Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court
The Political Fix: Changing the Game of American Democracy, from the Grassroots to the White House
AMERICAN POLITICS
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Jim DeMint Blanche Lincoln and Perils of Progressive Purity Politics | Robert Schlesinger
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