With the prospect of two sitting U.S. Senators being the nominees of their respective Parties Howard Fineman pens some new conventional wisdom:
The candidates will have to run from WITHIN Congress, not AWAY from it, as they almost always do after their nominating conventions.
They will have to assume direct control of their respective party’s legislative agendas. They will, in effect, become minority and majority leaders.
When a candidate becomes the nominee of his Party, he becomes its de facto leader. Everyone is now working for him.
Fineman points out that this has never happened before in American history, and it presents a number of interesting possibilities as to how the election could play out.
They would travel back and forth between Washington and the important general election states. While on the trail, they would be touting their message, policies, and vision for America. While in Washington, they would be casting votes and introducing legislation to turn those ideas into reality.
Their colleagues would debate the finer points of the policy proposals on the floors of Congress while their surrogates would take the message to the pundits and national media.
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