The failure of a purge...

With John Jacob conceding, Chris Cannon has survived Tom Tancredo's attempted purge. This hopefully gives a comprehensive bill some new life. The conference has to go to work, though, and that depends on the House.

Tom Tancredo's influence among House Republicans will hopefully decrease in the wake of his attacks on both Cannon and Mike Pence. Because really, at this point, Tom Tancredo has proven that his threats to campaign against Republicans are empty - that at best, he can attack a colleague and find himself outgunned by those who back up that colleague.

Tancredo is now short of options. Having attacked two fellow Republican House members, not to mention the President of the United States over immigration, he's lost big time when he went toe-to-toe in a primary race where the only real difference was immigration. And he lost 56-44, a margin just a little smaller than Cannon's 2004 primary victory (by a 58-42 margin), despite this challenger spending six times what Cannon's 2004 challenger spent. If he wants to take out Cannon, he has to go with a Constitution Party challenger in that district - and that will result in him getting a primary challenger of his own.

The President has just sent a message - he will back those who favor comprehensive reform. That backing in a primary has been proven, as the wreckage of Tancredo's attempted purge washes onto the shore. We may yet see a comprehensive plan. Hopefully, the House will realize the threats of the hard-liners are empty (as the UT-3 primary has proven).

If not... well, let's just say that there are always other primaries.