Brat, not Ingraham, responsible

Last week, Politico published their list of 50 "thinkers, doers, and dreamers" -- or whatever. (It's really just their power list.) Coming in at #21 was the pair of Dave Brat and Laura Ingraham.

I get why the folks at Politico put them together. The article notes, "If there was one person who helped spread Brat’s narrative—and who saw Cantor’s downfall coming—it was Laura Ingraham." True, but there wasn't just one person. There were the Gadsen signs, for example, that promoted Brat and attacked Cantor.

And as helpful as Ingraham was in bringing attention to Brat's quixotic campaign, possibly more important was the challenger's relentless presence in the district - the old-fashioned, shoe leather stuff. The impact of this kind of direct campaigning is hard to measure (although you could see it with Brat if you were paying attention), but it really seemed to make a difference here. Constituents noticed Brat's presence while Cantor stayed in Washington.

Politico seems in a rush to anoint Ingraham as Brat's kingmaker (like Rush Limbaugh in the 1990s), but it's more likely Brat did most of the work. Oh, one other guy helped: Eric Cantor.

(H/t to Jason Roop at Style Weekly.)