I recently argued in this space that New York State has no real political parties (with the possible exception of the Conservative). I saw nothing last night to make me re-evaluate that conclusion, but that is a talk for another time.
Unlike in New York State, there is something called the Democratic Party functioning nationally in more than just name. It is a broad based coalition, which, by its nature, is often divided. In addition, its hands are often bound by the nature of the peculiar institutions through which it operates, none perhaps more peculiar than the US Senate.
Most notably, is that, given the size of our nation, it is forced to operate locally through units of varying degrees of efficiency or even existence.
But, unlike the New York State entity which bears the same name, the Democratic Party does exist as a national entity in pretty much the form outlined in the Wikipedia definition of a political party.
Republicans claim that the President and his party had a bad day yesterday, and it would be foolish to claim it was a good one. Mostly though, what we learned is that efforts to nationalize local races are met with skepticism by voters who’ve just paid their property taxes and easy pass bills.
Jersey voters do want health care, and Chris Christie will not be leading the charge for his state to opt out of any public option. To the extent that Obama was a factor in New Jersey, he was a positive one.
But there are lessons we can learn form New Jersey. The Republican Party there really exists, and it determined it wanted the Governorship, and, as a result, it did not let it self be scared off by Jon Corzine’s billions when it saw the signs of incipient dissatisfaction it could exploit. I’d send a memo to the New York State Democratic Party, if only we had one.
There were lessons for others as well. In Virginia, Bob McDonnell, a troglodyte, whose knuckles crawl when he attempts to walk on two legs, talked not a whit about social issues and sold himself as a moderate. Given Virginia’s voting history and the local issues, he won.
But, in upstate New York, in a historically Republican but moderate district, the New York State Republican Party proved its non-existence as its moderate candidate, Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava (a courageous woman who voted to legalize same-sex marriage), melted away like the Witch of the West as she realized her party nomination was of slightly less value than the Emperor’s New Clothes.
It was Mike Long’s Conservatives who operated like a real party, and the real forces which now dominate the national Republicans came in to lend him support.
Unlike Bob McDonnell, Doug Hoffman, a true-believing tea-bagger, did not hide what he was; if had had done so, he could not have overcome the obstacles faced by a candidate of a minor party; but, once having done so, he rendered himself unpalatable to his turf, a turf not unfriendly to more moderate conservatives.
Unlike the Governor’s races, this was a national race. But, like all Congressional contests, it was a national race fought on peculiarly local turf. The Democrats understood this, and nominated a moderate who excited the base as much as a mashed potato sandwich on Wonder Bread with mayo.
What the DCCC understood was that this was a Wonder Bread district. They decided to peddle a Democrat no more liberal than the constituency. By contrast, the conservative movement tried to peddle grits to people who prefer home fries.
So yeah, not a great night for local Democrats in much of the country. But nationally, there is one more Democratic seat in Congress than there was before.
All the rest is commentary.