Political Parties

Over the past month I have several posts about political parties as Factions: They are here, here, and here.

Now that we are into chapter 8 on political parties, and now that we are into Hacker and Pierson, those posts "fit" better.

Today's USA Today has an article that is remniscent of Hacker and Pierson's discussion of the importance of primary elections, in chapter 4, The Race to the Base. Recall that their argument is that primaries really matter, since many districts or states are "safe" for a particular party. And in the primary, you may well face a more ideological extreme canddiate -- a real threat given that primary voters are more ideologically extreme than general election voters.

In this cover story, Crossing party lines makes targets of some incumbents, Susan Page writes,

The primary challenges to the Senate's most liberal Republican and one of its more conservative Democrats are signs of the litmus tests that partisan voters on both sides are applying this year. They come as advocacy groups, including the conservative Club for Growth (backing Chafee's opponent) and the liberal MoveOn.org (which may support Lamont), are increasingly willing to help finance primary challenges to incumbents.

In Tuesday's primary in Texas, MoveOn.org is targeting Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar because of his coziness with President Bush. (While MoveOn is raising money for challenger Ciro Rodriguez, the Club for Growth is doing the same for Cuellar.)

And in Ohio, Sen. Mike DeWine, up for re-election this year, is getting flak from fellow Republicans for joining the Gang of 14. A deal forged by the bipartisan group of senators thwarted Democrats from using a filibuster to block some controversial judicial nominations, but it also preserved the maneuver for "extraordinary" cases.

The bottom line: Voting records that once might have been seen as a sign of independent-minded statesmanship are now an invitation for an intraparty brawl. Strong feelings over the Iraq war in particular are sparking protests by anti-war Democrats toward elected officials who try to find some middle ground. Even New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the party's most prominent liberal, has been criticized in her state for supporting the Iraq war resolution.

Note that Club for Growth and Move.on both appear prmoninently in Hacker and Pierson.

Yes, you can write a paper on this -- the hard work is still to be done, I just brought it to your attention.