"The Problematic Primacy of Primaries"

The Huffington Post, June 12, 2014

The defeat of Eric Cantor, the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, by David Brat, a little known professor of economics at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, in the Republican primary in Virginia on Tuesday shocked professional politicians, pundits, and political junkies. Since none of them thought Brat had a ghost of a chance, they are now scrambling to assess causes and consequences, to date, attributing the outcome to anger over bi-partisan immigration reform legislation; an underestimate of Tea Party strength and populist anger at anyone and everyone in the "establishment"; support for Brat from social media sites like the Daily Caller and Breitbart.com; Cantor's impossible to like personality, and his tendency to take voters in his district for granted.