The Grand Old Party

Nice POV from the New Yorker on the rationale behind some of the comings and goings of the Republican Party...

“Parties want to be optimally extreme,” Zaller says. “They are like the frequent air traveller who believes that if he never misses a flight he is getting to the airport too soon.”  This dynamic may help explain the ups and downs of the Republican primaries. Backing Mitt Romney is like showing up four hours early and sitting at Cinnabon; backing Rick Perry would have been like arriving at Newark International in the early evening for a flight that left LaGuardia at noon. And maybe, just maybe, backing Rick Santorum is like getting on the plane right before the doors close.