Why both liberals and conservatives might want to go easy on the social issues

Mark Udall's disastrous, one-note campaign failed to learn from Todd Akin's mistakes

Mark Udall, Todd Akin
(Image credit: (Illustration by Lauren Hansen, images courtesy Getty Images and Corbis))

The conventional wisdom surrounding social issues in politics tends to swing between extremes. In 1992, the conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer declared, "The great abortion debate is over." Lest there be any doubt about who won, he added, "The anti-abortion forces have been routed."

A mere two years later, amidst the great Republican sweep of 1994, not a single anti-abortion incumbent was defeated by a pro-abortion rights challenger. Both houses of Congress were to be led by Republican abortion foes.

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W. James Antle III

W. James Antle III is the politics editor of the Washington Examiner, the former editor of The American Conservative, and author of Devouring Freedom: Can Big Government Ever Be Stopped?.