The Center

The center will almost probably be the hottest piece of intellectual real estate in the American political arena for the foreseeable future. As red states metamorphose into ultra-red and blue states follow a similar pathology, it must be remembered, although it is underreported, that the center -- particularly in Ohio and Florida -- ultimately determined the election in favor of Bush. But can the Republican Party hold the center?

Obviously the goal is to try, and W's first speeches after the election suggested as much, for two reasons: one, to ignore the center in favor of the conservative base is to hand the Democratic Party a means -- a possible alliance, say, in the Senate and The House -- to strategic legislative victories. Although an argument can be made that any Centrist or political moderate who plays this game with the Republican leadership runs the risk of being "Daschled."

The courting of the Center, which has already begun with the choosing of Harry Reid. What does that mean for the far left and the far right? The Corsair believes that some will slough off into splinter third parties. The question is -- how many?