TPM Reader SR says no help from the biggs …
There are two key reasons why I would be surprised if any of the 2008 hopefuls with plenty of campaign cash were to give very much to house candidates who may need it to get over the top. The first is the fact that there is no mechanism to punish the stingy. 15 months from now, primary voters will be thinking about what candidate most represents them or is most electable. The fact they didn’t help their fellow dems in time of need will be well-forgotten if it was ever noticed in the first place.
The more important point is that astute strategists will feel at best ambivalent about a dem takeover of congress knowing that chances for a dem to reach the whitehouse with the same party ensconsed in congress is reduced to say the least. Smart hopefuls will write moderate chaecks, show up for campaign events and pray that the reps still manage, with late inning disingenuousness, to squeak by and retain their majorities. In that scenario, the dem primary would probably will almost assuredly produce our next
commander and chief.
All true, unless there’s a high degree of transparency about who was there for the final push in 2006. Then that mechanism for punishing stinginess might exist.
What do you think should happen? We’re discussing it over at TPMCafe.
