Call it “hostage taking” or “blackmail” or whatever you like, but California State Senator Abel Maldonado (great first name, by the way) has given us all much to think and talk and write about:

Perhaps most controversial of Maldonado’s terms … was that the Legislature sponsor a ballot measure calling for open primaries. Such a proposition would mean the top two vote-getters in a primary election, regardless of their party, advance to the general election.

Nate Silver chimes in, outlining the implications of what Maldonado hath wrought.

(And no, Nate, I don’t want to live in the “land of a thousand Liebermans.” But I wouldn’t mind staking a homestead in the land of a thousand Nelsons and Collinses.)