For Douthat, Style is Substance. But Politics Isn't Just About Style.

They’ve injected real substance into their races, and they’ve given voters a much more interesting choice than they would have otherwise enjoyed.

Politics should be interesting because it is important, not because the candidates are annoying to people of various ideologies, as Douthat postulates.

But substance? Sure, moderate Dagget is proposing increases in sales taxes to deal with New Jersey's insane administrative system (Republican Chris Christie is "offering little by way of workable solutions"). But what about conservative Doug Hoffman?

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.

Douthat may relish the give-and-take of a political campaign, but he ought to take seriously the idea that politics is about more than rooting for one's favored side; it's about the results of the democratic governing process. Though he may find Hoffman's anti-gay fulminations appealing (if also indefensible), the man has brought no substance his campaign. That's the problem with conservatism right now: It's an aesthetic, not a governing platform.

-- Tim Fernholz