As Michigan and Arizona voters head to the polls to choose a Republican presidential candidate, the folks at Daily Kos hope that at least a few liberals will be among them. Why? Because they’ll vote for Rick Santorum, of course — that is, if “Operation Hilarity” succeeds:
“…an attempt to extend the Republican nomination campaign in order to improve Democratic chances in November. The basic idea is to encourage Democrats, liberals and progressives to vote for Rick Santorum in Republican primaries and caucuses where Democrats, liberals and progressives are allowed to vote.”
Hmmm, isn’t this basically the same tactic that Lefty bloggers screamed about (including on DKos) when Rush Limbaugh tried “Project Chaos” in ’08? This time around, “Operation Hilarity” aims to prolong the Republican nomination rather than the Democratic one, but bear in mind that we have no real evidence that Limbaugh’s antics made a difference four years ago — Democratic voters (and Hillary Clinton’s tenacity) kept the nominating process running into the summer of 2008. In any case, not even all liberals are joining with the Kossacks as they storm the conservative castle this time around. Honestly, the whole effort strikes me as silly and kind of pointless, except as a joke — and a weak one at that.
Update: Santorum himself is making a pitch (via robocalls) to “Reagan Democrats”…not quite the Daily Kos crowd, I suspect.
– cpd