When Tom Carper decided to take on the 78 year old eminence gris that was Bill Roth, it started out with a note of sad collegiality. Without challenging Roth directly on his age, Carper made it clear that it was time for Roth to do the right thing and resign, or have the right thing done to him. He had to thread the needle and be the “Delaware Way” politician that he was while making a very un-Delaware Way move.
But the US Senate is the highest and best prize in American politics, so he pulled the trigger and while it started off cordial, it quickly descending into bitterness. Then Carper won and Roth died.
Someone said, history doesn’t repeat but it rhymes. Sarah McBride is now in the Tom Carper, looking at her 77 year old Bill Roth. But where Carper wanted Roth to retire with some of his dignity intact – it works to McBride’s advantage for Carper to stick around.
If Carper retired, Lisa Bundt Rochester would be appointed or be the odds on favorite in a primary. But Carper said he is running again so LBR is frozen out. She is far too mobbed up in the party system to attempt the needle threading that Carper was able to pull off when he took out Roth. McBride on the other hand, has played her hand perfectly. She is enough on the inside to be the one who can “sadly” announce that it is time for a change. And she is enough of a progressive that she could campaign on the sharp contrast between herself and the man who wants to party with Republicans like it is 1988.
Part 3 will go on to talk about how McBride will have access to vast pools of campaign money.
