DF -
You have to understand, politics is all they have left. They have entirely forgotten WHY the Founders formed this country and its government, and are left only with the means, which they do because they do because they must do. To which end? They haven't the foggiest idea.
My home state (New Jersey) went rather poorly in yesterday's elections. We've gone majority Democrat in the state assembly and state senate. Then again, this is a state which allowed its Republican party to succesfully sue to force ITS OWN VOTER-CHOSEN CANDIDATE into a primary before the gubernatorial election two years ago, and allowed its Democrat party to successfully sue to allow a new US Senatorial candidate onto the ballot five weeks before election day last year. (The law forbids any such entries within 50 days.) Why should 2003 be any different? I also regret to say that Bob "the Torch" Toricelli is a home-grown product of ours. We apologize.