Mark Ambinder tries to tell us what the result of the special election in NY-23 will mean before we even know the result. Well, two can play that game. As far as I am concerned, the Democrats have already won. Either their candidate will win a seat that has been held by Republicans for something like a century or they will lose it to a teabagger. That’s a no-lose situation if I’ve ever seen one. The GOP’s candidate will almost definitely come in third. They’ll still try to spin it as a win if the third-party conservative wins the race. RNC Chairman Michael Steele is already singing that song. But electing teabaggers isn’t a good sign for the health of the Republican Party in the northeast or any place else. Being crazy and out of touch is what got the party in all the trouble they’re in. Seeing all the heavyweights of the national party swoop in and gang up on a reasonably moderate candidate for the House is going to scare off a bunch of prospective Yankee Republicans who might have thought of running for office. All the Republicans I knew growing up in New Jersey are just going to shake their heads as they read about that one in the Wall Street Journal on their train ride into the City.
If the Democrat wins, he’ll probably compile one of the most conservative voting records of any northerner in Congress. But he won’t be crazy. And he’ll vote for Speaker Pelosi and make it one seat harder for the GOP to retake the House. So, I don’t really care who wins because, as far as my interests are concerned, I can’t lose.
How’s that for advance spin?
Update [2009-10-31 11:24:57 by BooMan]: Holy shit! They dogged her out of the race.
