Why the GOP Won't Win Back Its Majority Anytime Soon.

TPM highlights this editorial from the Watertown Daily Times, a newspaper in New York's 23d Congressional District where a special election is being held to replace Rep. John McHugh, now President Obama's secretary of the Army. Turns out that conservative party candidate Doug Hoffman (who is battling for Republican votes with the GOP candidate, Dede Scozzafava) doesn't know much about local issues:

In a nearly hour-long session, Mr. Hoffman was unable to articulate clear positions on a number of matters specific to Northern New Yorkers rather than the national level campaign being waged in a three-way race .... former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, who accompanied the candidate on a campaign swing, dismissed regional concerns as "parochial" issues that would not determine the outcome of the election. On the contrary, it is just such parochial issues that we expect our representative to understand and be knowledgeable about, if he wants to be our voice in Washington.

That's what happens when you don't support candidates that fit their district, which has been the mantra of the Democratic political committees since 2006. Though that causes tension between moderate and liberal Democrats when policy is made, you don't get to make policy unless you've got a majority, and that means tolerating a diverse party. Scozzafava was nominated by local GOP leaders, and she supports some policies that the national Republicans aren't comfortable with, like the Employee Free Choice Act. (So did McHugh, incidentally). But she is a Republican, and she would have given the Democratic candidate, Bill Owens, a run for his money had not the unelected media arm of the National GOP -- Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Armey and others -- thrown themselves behind Hoffman, who does not even live in the District, but near it, essentially splitting the ballot.

The attention these conservative have gained will no doubt lead them to continue supporting third-party candidates and divisive primaries, a gift Democrats will be happy to receive. Simply put: litmus tests of partisan purity just don't make for effective politics. That doesn't mean, of course, that partisans of any stripe shouldn't stop hounding representatives on their policy choices or reminding them of the differences between their constituents and their funders. But forcing local representatives to toe every single aspect of the party line is a recipe for long-term minority status. I talked about some of these issues Friday on MSNBC, where I engaged in questionable practices like complimenting Newt Gingrich and making "Going Rogue" jokes.

-- Tim Fernholz