A war of words has broken out in the Arizona Democratic Party as its chairman publicly attacks his party’s elected leaders.

This is a teaching moment for Democrats, and Arizona Republicans have much to offer. 

When Chuck Coughlin read about the liberal-party meltdown, he laughed out loud. 

His delight was not provoked by schadenfreude, but from knowing.

Coughlin was for years a partisan bull in Republican circles, managing campaigns and advising GOP governors. 

In his autumn years he has settled into a more genial centrism and has filed down the sharp opinions of his youth. 

So, his laughter at the Democrats came from long experience witnessing Republican detours into the absurd. 

In a normal state, you could not disgrace yourself more thoroughly than Arizona Democratic Party Chairman Robert Branscomb II did when he went public this past weekend to upbraid the top elected leaders in his party.  

He accused Democratic U.S. Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego — men who won their elections with a cumulative 3 million votes — of threatening and intimidating him. 

What Kelly and Gallego had apparently done, and justifiably so, was read Branscomb the riot act for appointing a new party executive director without running it past the major stakeholders in the party — the top elected leadership. 

In an April 19 letter to state committee members, Branscomb accused one senator of withdrawing his support for state party fundraisers and the other of threatening Branscomb with “consequences.” 

His candor did not amuse the elected officials, and they slapped back........

© Arizona Republic