Re: Republicans. I remember reading that Bob Dole first ran for office as a Republican because there was more opportunity for success (less competition) than because he actually, you know, believed in limited government. Arlen Specter is cut from the same cloth, as I suspect are many others. They just want to be someone important and powerful.

Potomac fever explains a lot too. No matter how fire-breathing a Republican is when he comes to DC, he often succumbs to the siren song of ‘moderation’ and ‘bi-partisanship’ (agreeing with the Democrats). Here their wives play a big part – imagine the pressure a guy is under at home when he is constantly slandered as a bible-thumping etc by the Washington Post, and she makes it clear she won’t get invited to join the Ladies Auxiliary of the Kennedy Center (or whatever) if he keeps it up.

Then they see the millions their ex-colleagues make when they go off to become lobbyists, and suddenly they find themselves ‘indispensable’. See George Nethercutt, the guy who knocked off Tom Foley in 1994, then reneged on this term limits promise.