Repartay

Mike pointed me to this bit of news, and frankly, this is fantastic news for Democratic Senatorial prospects.

An influential conservative political action committee is pledging to support primary challengers to any Republican senator who supports President Obama’s stimulus package — the latest public show of dissatisfaction from the right over the massive measure before Congress.[...]

[...]The group’s pledge appears most threatening to Specter, the only GOP supporter of the bill who faces reelection in 2010. A longtime moderate, Specter has faced tough primary challengers in the past, including Club for Growth President Pat Toomey’s 2004 primary challenge.

It’s been pretty remarkable to me the past couple days how people seem to have forgetten that in a representative government, elected officials represent, generally, the people who elected them. This is not owing to any lofty altruism or sense of honor, but because if voters deem them to have insufficiently represented their interests, they will vote them out of office. What this should suggest to people at the Republican Trust PAC is not that Arlen Specter was elected in spite of his moderation, but rather that he was elected because of his moderation.

Of course, regional politicians are to varying degrees tied to the fate of their national party, but ultimately, regional politicians are elected by regional voters. I fully encourage the Republican Trust PAC to spend profligately in support of Republican politicians whose beliefs are wildly discordant with the views of their constituents.