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August 12, 2006

What's Good For The Goose

Are we seeing the beginning of the end of the "Northeast Moderate"?

Last cycle Arlen Specter barely held off a challenge from Pat Toomey, and this cycle we've already seen Joe Lieberman defeated in a primary to Ned Lamont and his millions.

Now the right wing Club For Growth, fresh off a primary victory in a Michigan Congressional race, has it's focus on Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island.

This year, the group's top priority is defeating Chafee, who angered many Republicans by voting against President Bush's tax cuts and then casting a write-in vote for the president's father in the last election. The Club has helped Cranston, R.I., Mayor Stephen Laffey raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to unseat Chafee, and polls show the two Republicans running even a month before the Sept. 12 primary.

This may be good news for Democrats, as Laffey is unlikely to be able to hold this seat in a general election in this overwhelmingly Democratic state. And Club For Growth doesn't seem to mind.

The prospect of a Laffey win worries national Republicans, who consider Chafee the party's best bet for holding the seat in a heavily Democratic state. Polls show Laffey trailing far behind the leading Democratic candidate, former Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse.

The Club's Web site says that's fine: "It wouldn't be much of a loss if a new Democrat senator were elected, as he would vote much the same as Chafee does now."

But the larger question I'm asking myself is, if we are losing our moderates, who is going to step up and keep the Congress from spinning to the outer reaches of political thought?

Posted by Alan at August 12, 2006 08:16 AM