Much has been made of all the safe GOP House Seats, of how their occupants don’t have to fear a general election, just a primary challenge. Much has been made of how the gerrymandered seats let the GOP keep control of the House even though Dems got 1 million more House votes in 2012.
But there is an enormous downside to the GOP’s failure/inability to develop a strong bench for higher office by electing nut jobs to the House.
You get people in Congress like Todd “Legitimate Rape” Akin who don’t just make fools of themselves when they run for Senate, they hurt the party nationally. Akin didn’t just kill the GOP’s chances of picking up a Senate seat in Missouri, he hurt other Senate races and he hurt Mitt Romney because of his damage to the overall GOP brand.
In the 2014 races, we may see the same thing play out with Steve King in Iowa and with Paul Broun in Georgia. Their inflammatory and bizarre beliefs will make news all across the country.
All politics may be local, but the politics of crazy has national consequences.
Embattled Farmers 