Wow, this is some quality political analysis from a clear political analysis guru, Marc Ambinder. Just ask him or any of his clueless colleagues at The Atlantic which has morphed itself into a rabidly anti-tea party, pro-status quo organ without an ounce of insight or coherence.
Ambinder sets out to explain why — oh why — is Sen. Jim DeMint backing candidates who might possibly not be the most Pareto electable candidates as defined by The Atlantic and Beltway GOP consultants looking for big paydays this November. Might it be as DeMint actually said the other day, that he values ideas over power? No. Nope. Ambinder groks the real, gnostic meaning of DeMint’s support for conservative candidates:
If he’s the new power center in the Senate, why isn’t Sen. Jim DeMint considering a leadership challenge to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell? … Easy answer: the last place DeMint wants to be is in the leadership. … Congressional leadership is the touch of death for anyone with presidential — nay, vice presidential — ambitions. Think of how the position of Senate majority (or minority) leader treated the careers of Bill Frist, Trent Lott, and Mitch McConnell. By definition, you lose the base, because by position, you’re a conciliator, a wheeler and dealer, a reconciler, a deliberator. Remember, Tea Party conservatives blame Republican leaders for failing to stop Obama-care, the stimulus, and other measures. Oh, and DeMint, amiable as he is, doesn’t have the votes to be leader, having angered more than half the caucus because of his opposition to earmarks and his refusal to accept unanimous consent on even some of their pet issues.
So why is DeMint in the Senate if not to legislate? What’s his goal? I think it’s simple: he wants to pull the party to the right. I think he wants to be vice president down the line for a more traditional GOP candidate like Tim Pawlenty or Mitt Romney. And he’s in the catbird seat right now to do both.
This is madness. DeMint can be a U.S. Senator for as long as he wants in South Carolina, with minimal effort and absent scandal. Which, hello, explains why DeMint has been able to run around the country on behalf of other candidates. Why would he want to give up that job for a worse job?
Senators who jump onto a national ticket are either looking for a career capper or looking to get off the senatorial fund-raising treadmill. Neither applies to Jim DeMint. He is just now finishing his first term. As ranking member on Banking’s economic policy subcommittee he does not have to go hunting for much in the way of campaign donations. If the GOP were to take the Senate, a banking subcommittee chairmanship would be plenty in the way of a leadership role without all the downside, out-front wheeler-dealer exposure Ambinder mentions.
But it is not remotely clear that Ambinder understands that. Further, signing on to a presidential ticket would constrain DeMint from doing exactly the thing he seems to think is very important — advocating for and boosting candidates he thinks are conservative without regard to how they are viewed by the national party apparatus. As it is virtually certain that the 2012 GOP presidential nominee will not be as conservative as DeMint, the minute he joined such a ticket he would be compromised.
No, Ambinder does not get the big picture. I think DeMint understands that he has to help build a fire-break of actual conservatives in the House and Senate precisely because the GOP in 2012 will not run an actual conservative for president, counting instead on anti-Obama fervor to carry the day. If so, the possibly of a second Obama term can only be met with a Congress stacked with as many true conservatives as possible.
