"The Democrats’ Only Hope: Give Up Leftism for Lambism."

That's The Daily Beast headline for this piece by Ronald Radosh. The subheadline is: "Conor Lamb was plenty liberal—Obamacare, union support, more. But he didn’t check every box or play the identity politics game."

I'm torn between saying Is Lambism even anything? and I've been encouraging Lambism.

My claim to Lambism is based on 2 posts I wrote after Lamb won the special election in 18th Congressional District. First:

I love the Conor Lamb effect. I am cheering it on. Conservative Democrats! Break up the old clods of power and give us something crumbly and fresh!

And second:

Lamb's presence in the House is disruptive, and hence more Trumpian than [his GOP opponent] Saccone. As Trump himself put it, Saccone would be a reliable vote for Republicans. Just another Republican. But Lamb is a force for change within the Democratic Party. I'd like to see the Democrats challenged from within like that.

Radosh begins his argument by reminding/telling us about Henry "Scoop" Jackson, who couldn't get the Democratic Party nomination in 1972, when the party just had to have George McGovern who was crushed in the general election by Richard Nixon. Maybe Lamb is like Jackson.

The idea that some Democrat is a Scoop Jackson Democrat is something that I believe I've heard continually since 1972. He's the moderate Democrat that will fail within the party's processes, but if only he could get through to the general election, he'd win... and those dumb Democrats, leaning left, keep forcing "Democrats" to vote Republican.

If Radosh is doing anything more than restating this ancient insight, I'm not seeing it.

"Top Democrats tell me that if they take back the House in November, a restoration of Speaker Nancy Pelosi is no longer guaranteed."

"Conor Lamb, 33, won his U.S. House race in Pennsylvania this week after saying he wouldn't vote for her for leader — a new template for moderates."

Says Mike Allen at Axios.

I love the Conor Lamb effect. I am cheering it on. Conservative Democrats! Break up the old clods of power and give us something crumbly and fresh!

"Democrat Conor Lamb clings to lead in too-close-to-call Pennsylvania House race" in a "very Trumpy district."

"On the other hand, Conor Lamb is a conservative former Marine who ran, basically, as the kind of conservative Democrat Pennsylvania used to elect routinely. If this is Dems’ formula for taking back the House, it might work, but it will mean abandoning the party’s activist base."

Writes Glenn Reynolds.

I have 4 thoughts, from least to most frivolous:

1. Lamb's presence in the House is disruptive, and hence more Trumpian than Saccone. As Trump himself put it, Saccone would be a reliable vote for Republicans. Just another Republican. But Lamb is a force for change within the Democratic Party. I'd like to see the Democrats challenged from within like that.

2. Trump asserted that Lamb, once elected, would turn into nothing more than a vote on the Democratic side — basically, the kind of nonentity that was Trump's characterization of Saccone. But Lamb faces another election in the fall, less than 8 months from now. He'll be monitored. He needs to prove that he didn't lie to the people in his district. He can't hide.

3. If the looks were switched, Saccone would have won. Obviously.



4. Even though the vote is too close to call, Lamb took the stage 12:45 a.m., introduced as "Congressman-elect," and he was all: "It took a little longer than we thought, but we did it!" That sent me on a memory trip back to that amazing Wisconsin year, 2011, when Scott Walker antagonists pinned their hopes on a state supreme court election. One of my favorite videos from the Wisconsin protests was, "April 5, keep hope alive, vote Kloppenburg":



On the day after the vote, with a 200 gap between Kloppenburg and Prosser, Kloppenburg — expressing elation and gratification — declared victory. Here's video, which you should watch knowing that within a day, in the re-canvassing, Prosser picked up over 7,000 more votes. The joy you see here is about something that did not happen:

"Conor Lamb, the Democrat running in a Republican stronghold that overwhelmingly supported President Trump in 2016, likely needs everything to go right Tuesday to win the special election..."

"... in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District. Some of his supporters are gaining confidence that everything might, indeed, go right," Real Clear Politics reports.

Lamb ran a TV ad where he faced the camera directly to remind voters that he wouldn’t support Pelosi as leader.... Paul Berginc, a retired airline mechanic, had been a Democrat for most of his life, but switched parties and supported Trump in 2016, saying that the Democratic Party “left me.” Asked about Lamb at the Trump-Saccone rally Saturday, he scoffed, dismissing the candidate as a “Pelosi Democrat.” When a reporter pointed out that Lamb had said he would not support the California congresswoman, Berginc shrugged it off: “I don’t care what he says. I would say anything too, if I were in his shoes, to get elected and that’s what he’s doing. I don’t believe it one bit.”...