Lieberman Without Tears: One unctuous Hawks Demise is not a Trend... [View All]

[SaveElmer]

Hold on to your hats, folks. Next month, the peacenik, McGovernite, appeasement-happy Democratic voters of yet another state are primed to take out another pro-war senator! Yes, that's right: Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who voted for the October 2002 Iraq war resolution, is fighting for her political life against intraparty challenger Hong Tran, a public-service attorney from the state who backs "the quick withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq" and ups the ante by arguing that Cantwell, after serving as George W. Bush's handmaiden on Iraq, has now "proudly cosponsored legislation with Republican Senator Rick Santorum (R.-Pa.) that lays the groundwork for military intervention in Iran." Private polls put Tran within striking distance, and my sources in Olympia contend that we may well see a replay of what just happened in Connecticut.

Is the Democratic Party out to immolate itself? Is there no end to this contagion?

There's one problem with the above scenario. It isn't true. Yes, Cantwell is a real senator; yes, she voted for the war (the Iran bit is news to me). Yes, Hong Tran, a woman of Vietnamese-American extraction, is a real person of apparent accomplishment, and she is indeed running against Cantwell chiefly on an anti-war platform. But there are no "private polls" that put Tran "within striking distance," and I have no "sources in Olympia." It's all but certain that Cantwell will waltz to renomination. On Aug. 6 the Seattle Times ran a profile of the "quixotic" challenger that reported Tran had raised a mere $18,000 from just 20 donors. "Confidence, Tran doesn't lack," reporter Alex Fryer concluded. "It's money and support that seem a little thin."

...

I think by now you've caught my point. At this minute, eight Democratic Senate incumbents who voted in favor of the Iraq resolution are seeking re-election: Cantwell, Hillary Clinton (N.Y.), Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), Ben Nelson (Neb.), Bill Nelson (Fla.), Tom Carper (Del.), Herb Kohl (Wis.), and of course Joe Lieberman (Conn.), now as an independent. And of those eight, exactly one—Lieberman—faced or is facing a serious primary challenge because of the war.

Salient point further down

...but the long and the short of it is that if the Democrats manage to retake the Senate, their caucus will in all likelihood be more moderate and have more red-staters than the current one.

http://www.slate.com/id/2147566/?nav=tap3