A Republican candidate dressed up as a Nazi soldier, apparently for some kind of re-enactment, is offensive, stupid, and crude. What it says about his party, however, is that its institutions aren't doing the basic blocking and tackling of a successful political operation. You don't highlight a new candidate's race the way the National Republican Congressional Committee did -- House Republicans endorsed him in a special fundraising program -- without checking into this sort of thing. It's like they didn't bother with basic candidate research. This kind of sloppiness gives me some hope that the Democrats can stave off a total rout this year, especially if Simon Rosenberg is right that we're not actually experiencing a wave election but something different.
-- Tim Fernholz
