Blue and Red, Red and Blue

Here's an idea: if you want to listen to someone from the other side, pick a Republican from a Blue state or a Democrat from a Red state. This evening, on the News Hour, former Sen Warren Rudman (R-NH) and Vin Webber (R-MN) seemed most reasonable in discussing the future of bi-partisanship in the next four years.

To have any hope of dialogue in the body politic, we have to be prepared to leave our issues at the door, but not surrender our identity either. It occurs to me, when watching these two men, that they have proven it's possible to elect someone from the other side; what do they know, how do they know it; how do they show it?

A few years ago, I had the occasion to support a young man for our party's congressional primary who had been able to get elected to township and county office while being in the strong minority. Interestingly, or curiously, this had no impact on the local king-makers and their selection of the party endorsement. You see, our congressional (and well-gerrymandered) district has counties strongly identified with both parties. In full disclosure, your moderator lives in NJ, and at this juncture (McGreevey retirement -11 days), you can expect quite a bit of jockeying for the next re-apportionment (though still six years off, unless we adopt the TX/CO formulae: any reason to re-apportion is a good reeason).

To summarize: pay attention to the "out" party in which ever district you choose to notice; they've got the fresher ideas.