Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Will Incumbent Losses Now Help the Democrats in November?

I've been seeing a lot of news stories on incumbent politicians who either have decided not to run for reelection or are at risk of losing in their party's primary. Many such stories emphasize the anti-incumbent mood of the electorate, linking the defeat of incumbents in the primaries to a possible Republican win in the election.

One point I have not seen discussed is the possibility that, for the Democrats, incumbent losses in primaries may be a plus in the election. After all, if the nominee is someone new to national politics who has defeated a long time incumbent, he can run as the new broom that sweeps clean—even if he happens to be running under the label of the party that currently holds the White House and both houses of Congress.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I would say no. The American people have seen it's party over the people.

What will be interesting to watch is how many of the non incumbent Democrats ask Obama to stay away.