For five years, one of the major themes in The Good Wife was Alicia having to bend her morality for her job, using questionable ethics as a high-powered attorney defending known criminals. It was fun and enthralling, but occasionally heart-rending to watch Alicia as she learned to flick on the cold-heartedness required of the gig. Last year, when a drug lord showed up to his mom's holiday party, Alicia's son Zach watched with a mixture of admiration and horror, saying, "Sometimes I think of you as mom, and other times just as this interesting person who lives in our house."
In this sixth season, Alicia's has to re-invent herself yet again as a political candidate. And once again she’s skirting rules she once would have strictly followed. The question this time is: What exactly is motivating her? When she took the job at Lockhart/Gardner, Alicia was basically acting out of self-preservation, asking an old friend (Will Gardner) to hire her so she could support her family while her husband was in prison. Moving on from that firm and striking out on her own with Cary was a logical progression as she advanced at her job, but to strike into public office is a little more left-field.
One thing I've loved about the "Alicia for State's Attorney" plot in season six so far has been that while her family is baffled by her run for office, which troubles Alicia a little bit, their reaction isn't evidence that she's doing something wrong. The Good Wife excels at never coming across as some morality play that condemns Alicia. She may have less time with her kids, she may have left her husband (quite justifiably), she may have betrayed former colleagues, but throughout she's remained a three-dimensional person whose decisions always have a logic to them, even if it's not apparent to everyone else.