Is 'Not Running' Against Moderate GOP The New Democratic Strategy?
A few days ago I wrote about the Utah Democratic Party's decision not to endorse a Democrat in the state's Senate race this year, in the hope that incumbent Republican senator Mike Lee will be unseated by Evan McMullin, a right-centrist independent who says he won't caucus with the Democrats (or with Republicans) if he's elected. Yesterday I learned from a New York Times story that Democrats don't have a candidate in another Senate race, this one in Alaska, where election laws seem to make it possible for a Democrat to win.
In a year when control of Congress is at stake and the Republican Party is dominated by the reactionary right, [Lisa] Murkowski is attempting something almost unheard-of: running for re-election as a proud G.O.P. moderate willing to defy party orthodoxy.