Immoderate money and moderates’ misery

Plus the ballot initiatives survive challenges

An absolute boatload of campaign cash got spent ahead of last week’s primary in aid of getting moderates from both parties through to the November election. Most of it looks like money down a rathole today.

Here’s why you should care about this: Conventional wisdom dictates that voters on both the right and the left yearn—or at least should yearn for—centrist politicians who will govern in a sober, bipartisan fashion, resisting the excesses of the ends of the political spectrum. The scoreboard, however, seems to argue otherwise. 

Let’s start at the top of the ticket: