Thursday, June 08, 2006

The silver lining in the 50th

So Busby went bust.

Maybe Democrats will finally learn two things:

1. Local races are local. Voters are angry about Washington, but they're voting on Main Street. Running against "Washington" just doesn't win neighborhoods.

2. Don't turn non-referendums into referendums. It was Busby who spun her candidacy as the foamline on a forthcoming tidal wave. Smart for her, but the national party shouldn't have allowed it. Immediately after the primary, it became clear she was the underdog -- and that was the initial reporting. But now it looks like Democrats lost on their own referendum. Babe Ruth never called a home run only to whiff.

The Silver Lining:

1. Going into November, Dems won't be complacent.

2. There's still time to run local.

2 comments:

Jim said...

I would still consider this a marginal victory as well. The Reps had to spend a ton of money to keep the seat in one of their GOP bastions. Would it be beneficial to wipe out the RNC war chest even though we don't win the seat? Maybe .... It has to be somewhat demoralizing for them.

Lee Wochner said...

That's the Democratic party line. They're always trying to snatch victory from defeat. One inexplicable loss after another -- I guess they've gotten used to their own spin.