A Note On Eric Cantor's Loss

I don't like writing about things in this space that everyone else is writing about because I do this in my free time and why create more white noise? However, Eric Cantor losing tonight is just too bleeping good not to write about. There are a lot of angles - establishment v tea party, amnesty v border hawks, but I want to make a quick mention of this one.

The fact of the matter is that no matter how much people talk about money in politics you cannot sell something people do not want. This is also why I feel the Democrat's "digital advantage" has been a little bit overstated since 2012. They had, whether people want to admit it or not, a once in a generation candidate who people voted for despite not approving of his job performance or agreeing with his policies. Whether the trend of the electorate voting for candidates based on who they like more (i.e. the ones who will promise more free stuff) will continue until our republic collapses like every other great civilization before ours is yet to be seen, the fact is this is what we saw in 2012 and 2008. While this is not what happened tonight, Cantor is a good representation of the opposite, which is people will vote against someone who while being known is not selling anything other than the status quo ad his promise to lick his finger, stick it in the air, and follow the breeze. Dave Brat was selling something the people wanted and Eric Cantor was selling nothing. This is why people who talk about the dangers of money in politics are off target. Our economy is over $17 Trillion and the federal budget is close to $4 Trillion, yet combined Obama and Romney (plus their surrogates) didn't get close to 1% of the annual outlays of the federal government. Tonight, Eric Cantor outspent Dave Brat by over 20:1 and still lost. So just remember that the next time Harry Reid talks about Kochtopia -- no matter how much either side complains about spending in politics remember that it is not all that heavy and that a better marketing campaign (and I suppose ideas) will win out every time.