Just because Election Day was a downer — nationwide — doesn’t mean we should make excuses.
This post-primary post sets appropriate standards for state legislative candidates that came up short on Tuesday.
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There is a select group of men and women in this state who can call themselves political consultants.
I would guess that between both parties, there are probably about two or three dozen legitimate political consultants in the state. I’m in a generous mood today, so let’s call it 50.
To a person, these people are paid to give candidates, parties, and issue groups advice on political campaigns. (A very small group could get paid for their work, but turn down the money and do it for free.)
Is it just me, or is every disgruntled, unemployed former candidate you meet these days trying to pass himself off as a “political consultant”?
A new rule: If you’ve ever run and lost by at least 50 points — and no one has ever paid you for your “help” on a campaign — you forfeit the right to publicly make-believe that you are a political consultant.
Much, much more on this in the future.
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Congratulations to Claire McCaskill and her team.
And since Claire chose not to acknowledge Jim Talent and his service during her victory speech, I’ll do it for her:
Thank you, Jim, for the time you’ve given and the sacrifices you’ve made — both personally and professionally — on behalf of the people of Missouri.
Politics has people like me, then it has people like Jim Talent. People like me are campaign people; we like to argue about why “we” are right and why “they” are wrong. We often say and do things with the sole intention of making the other side so mad that they lose their focus. It’s a sport to us — and it’s a lot of fun, as long as you win (and as long as you never stop to consider how your behavior affects your opponents.)
People like Jim Talent are policy people, not campaign people. They’re more concerned with doing what’s right rather than doing what’s expedient.
These days, I think politics needs more policy people like Jim Talent and fewer campaign people like me.
And congratulations to Brenda, Michael, Kate, and Chrissy — the Senate’s loss is your gain.
(And let’s not forget the Talent staff and volunteers. From the days of Barb Cooper and Norm Baxter and Kerry DeGregorio to the days of Miriam Stonebraker and Rich Chrismer and Gregg Keller — many of the best people you’ll ever meet in politics have a little bit of Talent running through their veins.)
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…check out Hotline On Call for updates from around the country.
As tonight’s numbers come in, you may want to compare them to numbers from previous years to get a feel for where the results are headed.
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