catsittingstill

I agree that this is a possibility--but to reach out to the middle such a politician would have to offend 20% of the electorate, or more than half of the votes zie already has. Standing up for reality at the cost of alienating more than half of the people who would otherwise vote for zir would require extraordinary courage--courage which I certainly hope would be recognized and rewarded by the rest of the electorate, but courage which I suspect is rare.