BREAKING! Being anti Wall Street sells

In 2006, we kicked Joe Lieberman out of the Democratic Party. While he eventually survived as an independent, that race convinced the Democratic Party brain trust that opposing the war in Iraq wasn't just good policy, it was also good politics.

Fast forward to 2010:

Sen. Blanche Lincoln's surprising victory in Tuesday's Democratic primary in Arkansas appears to have hardened an anti-Wall Street bent in Congress's financial-overhaul bill.

Ms. Lincoln wrote a controversial provision in the bill that could force banks to spin off their lucrative derivatives-trading operations. Bankers and many lawmakers assumed the provision would wither once Ms. Lincoln lost her primary‹or even if she won, given the diminished political imperative to look tough on Wall Street.

But her victory appeared to have the opposite effect, with Democrats saying her standing is now strengthened, particularly as it appears the populist provision resonated with voters.

No one could've predicted that taking a hard line against Wall Street would prove political popular!

Look, sometimes, we don't have to win these races to justify our efforts. Sometimes, primaries are the only way to deliver a simple message to a hard-headed and tone-deaf DC political elite.

They don't listen to regular people, they don't read the polls, and all common sense has been blotted out by the DC cocktail party circuit. But face down the prospect of electoral annihilation, and you learn that these old dogs still can learn a trick or two.