This is what is wrong with the political pollyannas on DKos:
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, battered by corruption allegations and harried by an energetic primary foe in law professor Zephyr Teachout, survived with a very underwhelming 62-34 margin of victory on Tuesday night.
Underwhelming? Since when is a 28% (charitably) margin underwhelming, especially in a primary?
A few days earlier, I questioned why anyone had a modicum of expectation for a Teachout victory, since there was no poll that I had seen that had her within a country mile of Cuomo. I had my ass handed to me in the comments to that diary.
Tim Wu suffered a similar fate.
My point is not to gloat. My point is to inject realism, not just for this year, but for 2016 in local, state, and national races. You can make a choice. You can back a candidate that (however much you have to hold your nose) has a chance to win no matter the nit picks you have with that person, or back a candidate who is not even a "protest" candidate, but is in reality a "no" vote against the incumbent / front runner.
If the GOP has taught us anything, it's that dickheadishness does not matter. Two things do:
- Machine politics
- Machine politics (and yes, this includes the tea party wing of the GOP, who are the equivalent of the progressive wing in the Democratic Party)
Daily Kos has not, in its many glorious years, changed that basic dynamic on a local, county, state, or national level. A candidate has to know someone, impress a sponsor, and find a political opening to exploit in order to have a chance to succeed. Teachout had none of that, nor did she have any wind behind her in terms of overwhelming grassroots support. Dorms at NYU, Columbia, and Fordham don't count as overwhelming grassroots support.
There's a lesson in all of this for anyone who cares to pay attention, particularly heading into 2016. Express your passion early; pick the battles you're willing to spill blood for wisely a bit later in the game.