What we really need is to do away with the primary system. The way things work now, sensible moderate candidates can’t hope to win primaries for either party, because they would get steamrolled by their wingnut colleagues. So they run as independent or they don’t run at all. And it’s hard to win as independent. (Looks like Crist might pull it off in Florida, which is an excellent example.)
It would be interesting to see what happens if the Tea Party formally secedes from the Republican Party. At first, neither fraction would ever get more than 10-15 seats in the Senate. That would force them to adjust and rethink their strategies.
