When Primaries are the Only Competition

Charlie Cook:
“So when people ask, ‘Why in the world is Elizabeth Cheney taking on
Mike Enzi?’ maybe the answer ought to be, ‘Why not?’ With so many Senate
seats now in states where the opposition party has no plausible chance
of winning, it does inject a bit of competition where there is
effectively none and punishes complacency in a body where members in
one-party states could easily get that way. When there is so much
animosity toward Washington, it actually is surprising that there are
fewer incumbents facing primary challenges. Cheney’s run appears to be a
campaign against Washington more than an ideological jihad. It would be
wrong to see this as a tea-party challenge; this is more of an
outsider–albeit from an insider family–running against a longtime
incumbent. These are so rare that they are newsworthy.”