One thing about realignment elections like the one we had last week is that the “moderates” in the loser party start looking even better to the mainstream. The religious lunatics aren’t likely to be running the GOP asylum for much longer. After all, if their homophobic GOTV strategy didn’t stop the Democratic landslide, we probably can’t write off the Giuliani campaign as doomed to fail in the primary as we once could. McCain’s a phony and Rudy’s a douche, but they’re both working overtime to stick a shiv in the back of the GOP leadership for which they’ve spent their careers being the moderate front-men. As Atrios notes, the media is in love with their carefully manufactured personas and will happily reinforce any “maverick” posturing they use to market themselves. If we don’t take their 2008 campaigns seriously, Rudy & John could benefit from the anti-GOP backlash as much as Dems.
BY TOM TOMORROW