TightWind is written by Kyle Baxter. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Democrats are supporting conservative third-parties to try to siphon off votes from their Republican challengers:

In California, Republicans have received recorded phone calls from a professed but unidentified “registered Republican” who says she is voting for the American Independent Party’s candidate for a House seat, Bill Lussenheide, not for the incumbent Republican, Mary Bono Mack.

The caller says she is voting that way because “it’s time we show Washington what a true conservative looks like.”

The recording was openly paid for by the Democratic candidate for the seat, Mayor Steve Pougnet of Palm Springs.

When the DNC was asked whether they are coordinating it, they said,

In response to questions about whether the efforts were being coordinated on a national level, the Democratic National Committee said in a statement, “Republicans have no one to blame but their own ideological intolerance for the bloody civil war on their side.”

So that’s a nice non-denial, and that’s especially amusing, because if I recall correctly, I don’t think Democrats appreciated Republicans helping get Ralph Nader on the ballot in a number of states in 2004.

So much for the new politics, draining the swamp, etc.