The Ongoing Fall of Moderate Republicanism

According to National Journal's Congress Daily (subscription required), the "moderate" Main Stream Individual Fund is supporting the candidacy of Assemblyman Marilyn Brewer in the special election to suceed Former Rep. (now SEC Chairman) Christopher Cox.

The Fund is doing this by running ads accusing Brewer's primary rival, State Senator John Campbell, of being soft on illegal immigration. So this is now "moderate" Republicanism - bashing immigrants?

Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain (Maverick- Az) has endorsed Brewer in TV ads, even though those very ads violated the McCain-Feingold bill by not including proper "disclaimers, see here, and even though McCain has generally been supportive of immigration.

Indeed, the Main Stream Fund is one of those evil "527s" that Senator McCain has railed against for the past year. And here they are, spending soft money to try to elect the Senator's candidate. Will Senator McCain denounce the group? Daring prediction - no.

If this is the man, the group, and the candidate on which "moderate" Republicans are banking, the center is indeed in trouble. How are the moderate Democrats doing these days? Are there any?