2 thoughts on “Twitter: RT @dmataconis: If …”

  1. AMLTrojan

    This should go without saying, but the problem here is tactical. The Sarah Palins of the world need to be able to put their political egos aside and recognize when their support or voice is going to be both a blessing and a curse to favored candidates.

    Now, specifically granted with the Alaska race, most people would have expected Sen. Murkowski to step aside gracefully after her primary defeat, so Palin can be somewhat forgiven for crowing early. But we’ve seen from the Joe-mentum example (and also Charlie Crist) how that doesn’t necessarily happen anymore, and losing primary candidates can and will seek third-party bids if they think they can win the general.

    Therefore, what polarizing figures like Palin (and like the Clintons before her) need to do is work more behind the scenes, and not get out on the podium (or doing robo calls or whatnot) to fire up their side’s base until the final days of the campaign. This reduces the amount of time the opposition has to rile up its base, while providing red meat and momentum for your side.

    The other half of the problem is, the GOP establishment was way too slow to react to the Tea Party’s voting weight in the primaries. Had the GOP establishment recognized earlier that the Tea Party was going to wield a lot of influence, they could have dumped some of their candidates that would have had no chance (e.g. Mike Castle) and helped find middle-ground candidates that had better potential (e.g. Rand Paul and Marco Rubio, vs. Sharron Angle and Christine O’Donnell). Instead, they sat on their laurels and got angry when the Tea Party pulled off their upsets. But then, the Tea Party folks were as pissed with the GOP as they were with the Dems, so this outcome probably wasn’t avoidable anyway.

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