The Primary that Wasn’t

Earlier this week, State Senator Ted Kanavas surprised a lot of people when he announced he will not be running for reelection to his Waukesha/Washington County-based 33rd District seat, one of the most conservative in the state.

Kanavas’ announcement set off an interesting chain of events.  That day, Representative Rich Zipperer (R-Pewaukee) released the obligatory “Ted Kanavas is awesome” statement and followed that up the next day with an announcement of his candidacy for the seat.

Curiously, a few hours later, Representative Bill Kramer (R-Waukesha) announced his own intentions to seek Kanavas’ newly-vacant seat int he Senate.

Any astute political observer over the last few years could plainly see what was going to happen at this point.  Zipperer is a former district director for Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner, a man who takes very seriously the political fortunes of the Republicans in the 5th Congressional District – especially those who are loyal to him (as any effective congressman should).

Like Rahm/Lawton, Rahm/Cherry, Rahm/Dodd etc., the Sensenbrenner phone call to Kramer had to be one for the ages.  Needless to say, after entering the race on Wednesday, Kramer was out on Thursday.

I admit to being somewhat melancholy about Kramer’s exit.  Zipperer/Kramer would have been a fascinating campaign.  While both are strong conservatives, they have dramatically differing approaches to politics.

Zipperer is a measured politician who is careful about what he says and what he applies his name to.  After getting to know his style, you have to think he was probably a pretty easy child to raise – likely never made a peep in church.  But he also has a deep political intellect and a good understanding of what it takes to advance an agenda in the Assembly.

Kramer, on the other hand, is a hell-raiser.  Quick with his tongue, he could be cast as Wisconsin’s Joe Wilson (You lie!) after loudly applauding during Governor Jim Doyle’s criticism of record profits by “big oil” in his 2007 State of the State address.  He is loud and bombastic – at times totally outrageous.  At the same time, he’s a pretty effective speaker.

Why would this race have been so interesting?  Well, if you know the state of grassroots conservatism right now, you have to admit that this isn’t William F. Buckley, Jr.’s movement.  WFB brought forth a movement that prided itself on reason, ideas and intellectual thought.  Its main thinkers were, like Buckley, brilliant scholars and experienced, articulate statesmen and women.

But conservatism today is anything but reasoned and rational.  While the core philosophy is still there somewhere, its adherents have, for the most part, become obsessed with personality and purity within the movement instead of advancing the movement’s ideals back into the political mainstream.

Accordingly, today’s conservatives look not to the upbeat, optimistic intellect and humor of WFB, Reagan or Thatcher.  Rather, they pine for the angry, slathering and prepackaged commentary of Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Michelle Bachmann.  Conservatives, while bemoaning the proliferation of sound bite culture, have become sound bite activists – more than willing to watch FoxNews or buy Michelle Malkin’s novel, but unable or unwilling to lift a finger to apply their ideological fervor in a practical sense by going out to help elect conservative candidates or argue for conservative viewpoints in a reasonable fashion.

I can’t help but to think that this is the commercialized version of conservatism, designed not for the betterment of America, but for the enrichment of a series of pundits and book-sellers.

How, you ask, does this apply to the 33rd?  Well, I would have liked to see which candidate conservative voters would have taken to – Zipperer the measured political operator or Kramer the bombastic, outrageous hell-raiser.  In a vacuum with organization and money removed from the picture, I’m afraid the answer in today’s GOP would be a no-brainer – Kramer would have won going away.

It’s not that I don’t appreciate Bill Kramer’s approach – it’s just not the way I would run my own shop.  And it’s not that there are no rational voices within the conservative movement today.  To the contrary, there are plenty.

What concerns me is that conservative voters today are far more apt to support a candidate that is willing to dish out the red meat and bombastic rhetoric (and who may be useless in getting a bill passed) over a quiet and introspective strategist who will do far more in the long run to advance the conservative agenda by winning over centrist voters – and thereby returning the movement to the political apex.

Reagan won by being the buoyant, optimistic Reagan – not the angry, polarizing Bachmann.  With a conservative grassroots renaissance currently underway, the right may well be on its way to making the changes it needs in order to return to the top.  But each conservative needs to look inward to find their inner intellectual and fight this battle in a respectful way.

Forgive me if I’m more than a little pessimistic about that.