Political Games - Where the fuck’s the reset button?

For those not in the know, incumbent Connecticut Senator and former VP- and Presidential candidate Joe Lieberman (D) is facing a primary challenge from local businessman Ned Lamont, who’s also been involved with state and local politics. I’m sure most of you shrugged indifferently, nodded and thought “go Ned”, or perhaps even wished Joe some luck in his reelection campaign, but not really caring. After all, primary challenges happen a lot, they’re no big deal… except….

Except that the Beltway press and the Lieberman campaign have literally snapped. Between Joe and The New Republic, supporters of Ned Lamont are vicious ideologue blogofascists who wish to purge the Democratic party of all those who voted for the Iraqi war, and Republicans who want to take down a popular, well-liked Senator. If you’re as confused as I am, I don’t blame you. It’s been a bumpy, rocky ride. And there are plenty of good rhetorical takedowns on these ridiculous “talking points” [or lies, whatever you want to call them]. But Justin asked me online this afternoon, “When was the last time an incumbent was beaten in the primaries anyway?” I had no idea. More to the point, I hadn’t read anything about that. So after a little googling which lead me to Wikipedia’s entry for the 1930 Senate elections, I started looking at all the years between then and the present. I have to admit, I was surprised. Between 1930 and 1980, there were a grand total of 4 years in which an incumbent did NOT lose a primary. 1956, 58, 60, and 76. Out of 26 elections, 22 had an incumbent Senator losing a primary. Since then, the trend has become much, much rarer. In fact, since 1980 [or over 12 elections for the math-impaired], there have only been 3 primary-challenger victories: Carol-Moseley Braun (D-IL) in 1992, current Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) in 1996, and current Senator John Sununu (R-NH) in 2002. Here’s a quick link to the 92 results; just manipulate the year in the url to navigate.

Anyway, I thought that might be interesting to a few people.

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