The Moose comments on the Chafee victory.
Senator Chafee's primary victory is a triumph for the politics of the vital center and a rejection of the politics of the base. Although the Moose is no big fan of the rather eccentric, erratic Senator, he praises the voters of Rhode Island for choosing the middle over the extreme.
Once again, the tax cutting absolutists of the Club for Growth struck out. These are bleak days for the GOP right - Republicans have abandoned the conservative cause of small government for the survival politics of pork and perks. The "leave us alone" coalition has been left alone.
The critical factor in the Republican primary was that independent voters could participate. That probably made all the difference.
What this primary result demonstrated is that there is a clear yearning in the electorate for a bi-partisan politics that eschews the polarizing ideological extremes of the right and the left. The Moose is not just spinning his antlers when he argues that the Chafee victory portends well for Joe Lieberman in his near-by Connecticut race.
Like Chafee, Joe has been articulating the message of bi-partisan progress over polarizing partisanship. Unlike the Rhode Island Republican primary, however, the vital center could not participate in the Connecticut Democratic primary. In November, the broad swath of the electorate will have an opportunity to weigh-in.
Expect the vital center to triumph in Connecticut just as it did yesterday in Rhode Island. Amidst the clamoring noisy voices of the extremes, the silent majority of the vital center will make its voice heard at the polls.
The middle is the growth market in American politics. -- | 
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