During last night’s Democratic debate for U.S. Senate, there was no running against Washington:

In their first debate of the campaign, the four Democratic candidates for US Senate sparred gently last night, each seeking to play to a liberal base and win recognition as the rightful heir to the seat once held by Edward M. Kennedy.
“I’ve been trained in the House to know the way of Washington,’’ Capuano said in his closing statement. “To change that now would be to say to Senator Kennedy, ‘Your 47 years of experience weren’t worth much.’ ’’
The debate allowed the four to highlight their candidacies and their themes: US Representative Michael E. Capuano played to his blue-collar progressive roots and his insider political skills; Attorney General Martha Coakley was crisp and efficient, showing a command of the issues and making a point to address the camera; Stephen G. Pagliuca and Alan Khazei presented their nonpolitical backgrounds as assets.
Capuano repeatedly portrayed himself as the consummate Washington insider, the one with experience and Capitol Hill savvy to make the kind of legislative deals for which Kennedy was legendary.

For something completely different: Travel to New York, from where Doug Hoffman writes (on NRO):

Conservatives won’t be prodded to support something we don’t believe in, not for clever “strategic” reasons or because of party labels. We see that the danger to our nation posed by unrestrained government has become fiercely urgent, and we have stopped accepting excuses from those who won’t stand strong to stop it. We have declared independence from party politics because too many people in both parties either have been complicit in creating the danger, or have shrunk from challenging it.