All Local Politics iz National

Yeah, yeah. "All politics is local", "George Bush is not on the ballot", &ct. But not this year.

This year we have mid-terms that are a true national referendum like we have never seen before. I've tried to make this point inelegantly many times.

Take a gander at what someone who is thoughtful and knowledgeable and articulate (i.e., take a break from Y.T.) has to say about such things. From Will Divide, over at Huck and Jim, my favorite small blog with big ideas:

All politics are local, but all elections now are national. It astonishes me how completely national themes and concerns have turned the off-year into a national referendum. Part of it is certainly the nature of the Iraq war and I think the GOP has only itself to blame after first running into this season fully behind their dim standard bearer and the rightness of his cause. But, here again, what gains they made in the last decade were all due to nationalizing local races. This is a world of their own making.

A amplifying this trend is the effect of new media which the Dems have used pretty well in targeting races, collecting money and launching low-cost, flexible ad campaigns.

GOP losses will be at the bloody end of painful. Hedge if you feel like it, but since the weekend GOP campaigners been puking on themselves in desperation. The Oval Office squirt went from clueless ("We'll retain both houses") to vicious (Dems = Terrorist Stooges) in the space of five days. I say the House and Senate, going away.

Read it all. My favorite snippet is his toss away on Charlie Rangel, the most underestimated man in Congress:

Lately Charlie Rangel . . . has been smiling like the cat who not only swallowed the canary, but has seven or eight more stashed away in case he's feeling peckish later.

"Squalid little man" . . . . great stuff.