Replies

All politics ARE local. Tip O'Neil was right on that if nothing else.

Truth be told, state and local politics interest me more than national, because that's where the decisions that actually impact my life are made. Frankly, milk policy in Wisconsin has little impact on me personally. But whether the Commonwealth bans guns...that impacts me very personally.

Anyway, I'll attempt to answer your question as directly as I can. And I'll keep it to one general theme. I seem to recall you're from GA. Do you remember Billy and Cynthia McKinney? More importantly, do you remember how they were both thrown out of office (although I hear Cynthia might have come back)? It wasn't Republicans who delivered those coup de graces, it was Democrats.

Most seats in the House of Representatives and legislatures are not even challenged by the other party. That's because state legislatures have gerrymandered seats to the extent that the opposing party has zero chance of winning the seat. That's why Cynthia and Billy got and kept their seats for as long as they did.

Most incumbent officeholders who lose their seats these days lose them due to a primary challenge, not in the general election. Look at this most recent election. The only incumbent U.S. Senator that I'm aware of who actually lost his job was Tom Daschle. And how much did that cost Republicans? It's actually a pretty rare thing to happen for a Senator, and almost unheard of for a member of the House. You've got to pull a Gary Condit just about to lose your job (another example of a primary challenger winning).

But let's expand on that a bit. Let's imagine that you really disliked someone like, oh, Nancy Pelosi. Nancy Pelosi is in a safe Democratic district. She will not lose her job to a Republican. She could safely ignore a Republican challenger. The same would not be true for a Democrat.

So that's one way an...inspired...Democrat can make an impact. There are many, many, many more.