… Students of history and political science alike may note that extra-ideological factors are common in determining who wins leadership elections. Speakers have included both members near the middle and extremes of the distribution of ideological scores for their party, for example.
Yet what is different this time is that the two-party system has created a vast ideological divide between the parties — and relative uniformity of beliefs within them. McCarthy’s supporters and detractors alike share most of the same beliefs. …
What we have in Congress today is not an ends-against-the-middle battle for control of the House. We have one characterized by many different demands — about personality and politics, but mostly about the various processes of legislating — being made of an establishment politician by an unruly gang of mostly, but not entirely, outsiders.
That is an important difference from the way the media characterizes the battle, and indeed from most other battles within the Republican caucus today. But it is an important and profound difference — one that could have profound impacts on the way the House operates in the next Congress. CONTINUED
G. Elliott Morris, Politics by the Numbers
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