In commenting on Sen. Jeff Flake’s announcement that he was retiring rather than seeking a second term in the Senate, Ben Domenech of the Federalist wrote that Flake’s “brand changed dramatically.”

I take a different view: Flake, R-Ariz., in his 12 years in the House and five years in the Senate has taken consistent views. His strong free-market conservatism on economic issues led him to oppose former President George W. Bush’s Medicare prescription drug bill and TARP legislation, as well as the 2001-02 No Child Left Behind bill. He supported “comprehensive” immigration legislation in the House (for which John Boehner booted him from the Judiciary Committee) and in the Senate (as a member of the “Gang of Eight”).