All Politics is National?

Worth Clicking: Blasts from the past wound Romney

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September 29, 2010

All Politics is National?

Matt Bai raises the question of whether former House Speaker Tip O'Neill's famous saying that all politics is local may no longer apply.

"Just take the example of Christine O'Donnell, the Republican Senate candidate in Delaware. Ms. O'Donnell is ubiquitous on conservative cable shows and talk radio, with her candidacy hyped by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and the California-based Tea Party Express. But you can barely find a trace of Ms. O'Donnell or her campaign in Delaware itself, a state that is smaller than some national parks."

"Whatever else Ms. O'Donnell may symbolize, she stands for the idea that politics in the online age is increasingly borderless, and can often be shaped more by national causes than by anything having to do with local constituents."

In a related study, Open Secrets notes that many lawmakers get a majority of their campaign contributions from far outside their home districts.

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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September 29, 2010