Rep. Nancy Pelosi has been elected the leader of House Democrats in a 177-29 vote. Pelosi has been called a "latte liberal" by conservatives, and it’s an accurate, if snide, description.
In terms of national politics, I’m a Downsian. For the uninitiated, Anthony Downs wrote a book called An Economic Theory of Democracy in which he postulated that political parties are in a competition for marketshare – or in this case, voters. Most voters tend to be in the center, and the party that can best capture the center is the party that will win the election. That’s why Bill Clinton’s triangulation strategy worked so well – he was able to capture and hold more of the center than the Republicans could.
The election of Pelosi only pulls the Democrats more towards their leftist base. However, that doesn’t win you elections. If anything, it opens more of the center up for Republican control. Without the support of that critical mass of voters, the Democratic Party is only alienating itself from mainstream America. Then again, given the direction of the Democrats on key issues like taxes and national security, that’s a process that has been going on for quite some time.
