"In An Illinois Primary, Three's A Crowd"

In These Times examined the local response to the D.C. Dem's hamfisted intrusion into the 6th District primary:

“We felt [Duckworth’s entry] was heavy-handed meddling by the DCCC and Rahm Emanuel to try to intervene in the grassroots politics of DuPage county,” says [Doug Cole, chair of the York Township Democrats]. “Everything they do drips with centralized arrogance and is as autocratic as any ensemble of Republicans.” Christian Century Senior Contributing Editor Jim Wall, a former Democratic congressional candidate and state central committeeman from the area, is supporting Cegelis and thinks voters will resist both Scott’s direct religious appeal and Emanuel’s outside intervention.

Cegelis, who says she originally ran because she feared the prospects for the next generation were declining, accepts the competition but felt surprised and frustrated by party leaders’ intercession. “That was a real shocker to me,” she says.

Even many Duckworth supporters have regrets. “Frankly, I don’t think it was handled all that well,” says David Axelrod, Duckworth’s media consultant and a leading national Democratic strategist.

But I thought that we locals were supposed to just defer to the Washington brahmins because they were so politically savvy.

Mmmmaybe not.

Again via Gapers Block.