The republican party civil war between purists and pragmatists is not over: the viciousness of the 2014 party primary season proves that. But defeats for Tea Party-backed populists on June 24th confirm a big development. The party's business-backed "governing" wing has remembered how to fight, and fight rough. Not for the first time in history, the lowest blows flew in Mississippi. Senator Thad Cochran-a genteel, big-government Republican and four-decade Washington veteran-broke every rule of Deep South politics and asked black Democrats and union members to cross party lines and cast votes in a Republican Party run-off contest. It worked, just: Mr Cochran won by about 6,700 votes, or less than two percentage points. A hefty turnout in mostly-black counties helped Mr Cochran beat off Chris McDaniel, a compromise-scorning state senator and former radio talk-show host.
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