An interesting theory, but I dismiss it out of hand. If you believe these Senators will stop raising money with the repeal of the 17th, I have a bridge I’d like to sell you. These folks would still be raising millions (if not billions, when you add in the whole lot) to influence their own elections and making sure THEIR people were returned to the legislature. Basically, the only thing that would change is you empower the politicians beyond where they’re already at. That’s the last thing we need to be doing at this point.
Before I do, I want to make sure I understand your point.
These folks would still be raising millions (if not billions, when you add in the whole lot) to influence their own elections...
Since the premise of this discussion is that their own elections are eliminated, am I to presume that you're talking about Senators influencing the members of the state legislatures who would appoint them with money? Isn't that what got Rod Blagojevich thrown in prison?
...and making sure THEIR people were returned to the legislature.
By this I presume that you are saying that Senators would be raising funds to see that their puppets are voted into state assemblies and senates. I don't have a problem with this. That's local politics. If the Senator can raise money while in Washington, DC, to aid somebody in a rural county in Nebraska, go for it.
I would suspect that over time, several roadblocks would emerge:
1) why would a special-interest lobbyist in DC care about a local state assembly candidate half-way across the country?
2) What about quid pro quo? It wasn't too long ago when this used to be something we cared about. I believe it was with the Clinton administration that the MSM began to look the other way when Clinton traded favors for funding.
3) Would this need to stack state governments be enough to hold together a national party bloc organized around campaign fundraising?
Are we really going to start seeing $10 million campaigns for one or two assembly districts with a few hundred thousand voters, at most? Bear in mind that many state districts do not align with federal congressional districts, so there may not be natural synergies to leverage.
Basically, the only thing that would change is you empower the politicians beyond where they’re already at. That’s the last thing we need to be doing at this point.
I'm not seeing it. Sorry. It would take too much attention from a Senator to mastermind that kind of local control over elections while still performing his duties as a Senator in Washington, in a way that is coordinated with the others Senators in his party. That kind of national Senatoral Election Campaign Committee would become too large to manage.
-PJ