I'm Taking My Ball...

What ever happened to being a good loser? Time after time in this election cycle, instead of losing graciously, giving a concession speech, and supporting the victor, the losing candidate has acted like a jilted lover that says, "If I can't have them, no one can."

First there was Charlie Crist. As far as Crist was concerned, the Florida Senate seat was already his. There may not have been a Kennedy seat in Massachusetts, but there was certainly a Crist seat in Florida. As is often the case in life, though, things didn't go according to plan. Along came young, handsome, charismatic, Marco Rubio, who defeated Crist handily in the Republican primary. A real man, at this point, would have shaken hands and wished his opponent luck in the general election. Not Charlie Crist, though. He went home and started doing math. Would it be possible, he wondered, to run as an Independent and pull enough votes to still win? In the end, he decided that he could, and, regardless of the fact that he had been a life-long Republican, what he really was for was himself, and he launched a campaign as an Independent.

Then there it the unusual case of Tom Tancredo. The former congressman from Colorado had not even run for Governor. He just decided that the two top Republican candidates for the post just weren't up to his standards. So, what does Tancredo do? Why the noble thing, of course. He threatened them. If the winner of the Republican primary didn't immediately withdraw from the race, leaving the door open for another, more suitable, Tancredo approved candidate to run, he would run against them as the candidate of the Constitution party. Well, true to his word, when the victor in the Republican primary didn't withdraw, Tancredo announced his candidacy, and with that, the life-long Republican nearly assured that a Democrat would reside in Colorado's governor's mansion for the next for years.

In the first few days after her loss in the Republican primary, it appeared that Lisa Murkowski was going to do the right thing, and concede gracefully. To her credit, she did at least concede, instead of demanding recount after recount, or worse, bringing the election to the courts and challenging the validity of votes. But instead of throwing heer support behind Joe Miller,she has kept her options open, and is considering mounting a write-in campaign. This is REALLY a case of thinking that a Senate seat has a family moniker attached to it. This seat was once held by Murkowski's father. She first obtained it, or should I say inherited it, when her father was elected governor, and appointed her to fill out the remainder of his term. She haas since been reelected, but I guess this just shows how difficult it is to give up one's inheritance.

I suppose, however, that I am being at least somewhat hypocritical, though, because this phenomenon is not restricted to Republicans. In 2006, primary voters, angered at his strong support of the Iraq war, defeated Joseph Lieberman in the Democratic primary. Lieberman proceeded to mount a successful campaign as an Independent in the general election. I, at the time, was thrilled by this. Maybe it is because I have always liked Lieberman, maybe it was because he was sticking it to the extreme elements of his party. Whatever the reason, or rationalization, I myself have not been completely consistent on this issue, and honesty requires that this be noted.