… One of my favorite sayings is from my friend, the very wise columnist Mark Shields, who is fond of saying that he would rather be a member of a church seeking converts than one trying to drive out heretics. This is not at all to argue that incumbents should never have primary challenges, but that when those primary voters ditch a highly electable incumbent for a considerably more exotic and problematic alternative, it is self-defeating. President Reagan used to say that the Republican Party should be a “big tent” party, with plenty of room for divergent philosophies and styles, but there are signs that the GOP tent is getting smaller. CONT.
Charlie Cook