Jeff Berkowitz makes a very good point in relation to something I wrote the other day.
In response to my argument that Roskam was running to the right:
I don?t know if I would bet the ranch on that. Such a strategy wouldn?t necessarily be a winning strategy and I think Senator Roskam is running to win. As I am sure Archpundit would agree, the more the Democrats run to the left, the more room there is for Roskam to run to the center
Uhhh..well, yeah. I don’t have a response because I was wrong essentially. The lack of a primary opponent gives Roskam a great way to run as more moderate than his record would suggest and perhaps more importantly, set the agenda early if he can get coverage in relation to the general election.
I think it’s an open question as to whether the eventual nominee has to run to the left, though Roskam’s record gives some room to do that–but not much since he’s essentially on his own.
That said, Rich makes a few great points in some posts I meant to link to previously–one of which is that the conventional wisdom that primaries are bad is often wrong because primaries are news and news means coverage. Having a walk means you are relegated to the sentence that says “So and So is the nominee for the other party”.
Why would the media continue to cover a single candidate with no primary competition versus a race with what? three candidates on the other side???
Oh, that’s right. Conservatives run the media in the Chicago area….