MB Civic

Everyone please take a deep breath and calm down. Despite all the bloviation, hyperbole and hyperventilating occurring over primary elections in Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Arkansas, very little actually occurred – at least, nothing of the seismic significance that is being suggested.

Re Rand Paul, he is likely to have won in any case – i.e., with or without the Tea Party – based on name recognition and Grayson’s comparative weakness, despite claims that he was a shoo-in. He was never any such thing. Thus, while the Tea Party claims that it reaped huge rewards here, it just isn’t so.

Re Arlen Specter…please. Given his political performance – in every possible regard – over the past couple of years, it would have been a near-miracle if he had won. He was among the most vulnerable politicians in the entire country – again, with or without the Tea Party. Thus, here again we have a fully predictable situation that likely would have occurred in any case.

Re Blanche Lincoln, this is the only race in which the outcome was always in doubt – and the fact that she pulled out a tie is actually a blow (though a small one) to the Tea Party. It will be interesting to see how the run-off proceeds.

Forgotten (or at least largely unspoken) in all of this is that these are only primaries: Paul, Sestak and (if he wins) Halter will still face the general elections. And alot can happen between now and then.

Ultimately, I believe that the Tea Party is getting less of a lift in the actual election process than they are from the mainstream media, who are making mountains out of molehills: it is the media that is doing more to sustain – and even invigorate – the Tea Partiers than is the electoral process.