The American Prospect’s Benjamin Weyl had a great item yesterday on what’s slowly become an important phenomenon: Republicans leaving the [tag]GOP[/tag] and becoming Dems.
Kansas is the epicenter of [tag]party[/tag]-[tag]switch[/tag]ers, with nine former [tag]Republicans [/tag]running for office as [tag]Democrats[/tag], including Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ (D) running mate, who was no less than the former state GOP chairman.
But Weyl notes that it’s not just Kansas. A prominent Republican in South Carolina recently switched parties; retired NBA star Charles Barkely is considering a gubernatorial campaign in Alabama as a Dem (“I was a Republican,” he said. “Until they lost their minds”); and in Virginia, Senate candidate James Webb was a Dem, became a Republican, and recently switched back.
Some voters and activists may have reservations about supporting candidates they believe can win but who may not conform to party orthodoxy. When it comes to ex-Republican candidates, the question of Democratic authenticity — not to mention ideological acceptability — becomes even more glaring. But if the party is big enough to house everyone from Baucus to Boxer, surely it can welcome Republican converts, especially in places like Kansas and Virginia where Democrats need to become more competitive if they ever hope to regain majority party status.
“The more converts you get, the bigger the party you have. Are there going to be some people inside the Democratic Party who are resentful of switchers? Yes, there are people like that,” said political analyst Stuart Rothenberg. “[But] of course it’s better for the Democrats to get those switches because it means: a) the party is attractive to people who it wasn’t attractive to in the past; and b) that’s how parties grow!”
Maybe some Dems will look askance at recent-converts to the Dem cause, but as I see it, the more Republicans who leave the GOP in disgust, and embrace Democrats for a new direction, the better.
I suspect there’s a strong under-current of disappointment among the Republican rank-and-file. Maybe they’re hesitant to admit it, and perhaps they hold back in response to polling questions, but what’s left of the GOP center can’t be satisfied with the direction of their party.
As the country witnesses the massive failure of Republican governance, coupled with the increasing isolation and elimination of the party’s moderate wing, large swaths of the electorate may be up for grabs. Webb thinks so.
He says that despite his party switch, his basic beliefs haven’t changed. “I’m a realist on foreign policy, a moderate on social policy, and a populist on economic policy,” he said. “Thirty years ago, the Republican Party embraced people like me. Today, however, the Republicans’ extreme wing has pulled the party so far outside the mainstream that a lot of people who share my basic beliefs are looking for new leadership.” If he is right, and if more Americans who share Webb’s views start heading to their county election offices, the current trickle could turn into a flood — one that could carry Democrats back to power.
Disgusted Republicans are probably broken up into two large categories: those who are dejected because the GOP has gone so far to the right, and a smaller group who are disappointed the party hasn’t gone right enough. For the latter, there’s little chance of them even giving the Dems a second glance.
But the prior believe in balanced budgets, sensible foreign policy, competent and ethical governing, and the separation of church and state — and they lament how far their party has strayed. For them, I have a message: come on over; the water’s fine.