Dude, who even knows.
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So the thing about Kyrsten Sinema, just like John McCain before her, is that Arizona has open primaries, where a large share of party-unaffiliated voters can vote in whichever primary they want. Primaries are the primary way parties can discipline their elected representatives – you last decade saw Labour parliamentarians in the UK fight off “reselection” primaries for incumbents because they knew they were rightward of their (harder core in the UK, where narrower paid party membership reflects active interest affiliation) local parties – and in this setup a high national profile, incumbent advantage, and appeal to opposite-party “leaners” (on the basis of shared moderation or cutting losses) drawing them into a party primary experienced (and campaignable) as a general civic referendum can represent a counterweight.
Post with 6 notes
You know, “the ‘Arizona independent-appeal Senator’ role previously held by John McCain will now be played by the woman who dated Ms. Frizzle in college, except she votes for a Democratic Majority Leader and keeps the 'maverick’ stuff to like normal budget moderation instead of imperial war” is… about where you would have realistically hoped politics would be at by now.
Like, we are falling short of a complete fundamental refounding, and I suppose several factions have worked themselves up to considering that necessary (or else what? or else we go down the path where they don’t get their way) but things could be worse.