I am Not Spartacus

Bad news this week for the DPP out of an unexpected spot: Tainan. After the primary, DPP heavyweights picked Lee Chun-yee as the candidate for the County Chief election later this year. But Mark Chen, the former Foreign Minister, a candidate for the DPP slate, complained that "factional influences" had caused the DPP to select Lee, and said that he would run separately, creating a split DPP ticket that would give the KMT a strong change of winning. The Taipei Times had a few pointed remarks on the topic:In going against public opinion, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen says the party has opted for a generational change. At the same time, however, Tsai is trying to stamp her authority on the party and make a clean break with the past.Factional considerations may also have played a role. Although the party supposedly abolished its factions in 2006, Mark Chen is close to — and the preferred choice of — former president Chen Shui-bian .Tsai is taking a risk. A split pan-green vote would open the door for a Chinese Nationalist Party victory in a place the DPP has controlled for the last 16 years. Nor is Tainan a place the DPP can afford to lose, given the challenges it faces in other parts of the country.Pan-green incumbents in the south are already under pressure because of the central government’s uneven distribution of development funds — which has left DPP-controlled authorities with the short end of the stick — and an apparent boycott of pan-green counties and cities by Chinese tourists.Meanwhile, the questionable legal proceedings against Chiayi County Commissioner Chen Ming-wen and Yunlin County Commissioner Su Chih-fen will test the pair’s ability to win re-election.The "generational change" Tsai wants is illustrated by the simple fact that Chen is now 74 years old. Time for younger people, and more importantly, time for DPP politicians to stop thinking they are bigger than the party or its policies.I've blogged on the development policies here, but it would be great if we could get more reporting on the alleged tourist boycott.