This is at the outskirts of election law, but this Politico story on liberal and conservative bloggers’ shared wariness of the debt agreement got me thinking.  As Rick Pildes has explained, extreme party polarization has made governance increasingly difficult.  The (hopefully) about-to-be-concluded debate over the debt limit is an example.  Can the bipartisan, 12-member joint select committee that’s part of the debt deal provide a way around the hyperpolarization of American politics?   If seven members approve a deficit reduction plan, it goes to Congress for an up-or-down vote.  If it can’t, or if Congress votes against the super-committee plan, then $1.2 trillion in across-the-board cuts kick in.  The threat of Medicare cuts (for Democrats) and defense cuts (for Republicans) may pressure Congress to agree to the super-committee’s recommendation — assuming, that is, it can come up with one.