You can see why California Governor Gavin Newsom had to go beyond California to find a fitting replacement for the late Dianne Feinstein in the United States Senate. He put a lot of thought into it. He conducted an extensive search. Before Feinstein’s body was cold, Newsom was ready with his announcement. He had found the compleat Democrat: Laphonza Butler of Silver Spring, Maryland.

It’s almost funny. But consider, to borrow a Shakespearean formulation, she is the perfectest herald of joy, Democrat style. She combines identity politics and ideological rectitude with institutional networking. Let us pause to admire her perfection.

[It’s quite a CV, and would be impressive (to progressives, anyway) — if Butler actually lived in California at the time of Newsom’s appointment. She didn’t; she lived in Maryland, where she also was most currently registered to vote, presumably to be closer to DC and the nexus of power she wanted to influence. This should disqualify Butler under Article I Section 3 of the US Constitution: “No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.” Republicans in the Senate should raise an objection and force Democrats to go on the record violating this provision. That comes up in a later Headline more specifically. — Ed]