I suspect I’m even more bothered by carpetbagging than Ramesh is. As I wrote about Hillary’s New York run at the time, carpetbagging of this sort contributes to the worst sort of trends in our politics. It’s a nationalizing force which makes the Senate in particular a House of Lords for the media age, in which celebrities from anywhere can parachute in and run for office based upon name recognition and public relations. Keyes isn’t nearly as a good an example as Hillary, in part because Keyes will almost surely lose. But I really don’t like the idea that growing up in — or at least setting down roots in — the place you’re going to represent is becoming quaint in the eyes of the voters and the media.

That said, considering how Hillary Clinton and her supported considered any mention of her out-of-state status to be an unfair attack, it will be interesting to see how many Democrats become suddenly comfortable with the carpet-bagger epithet.