Inside Elections

112th Congress - Senate (January 1, 2011)

January 1, 2011 · 9:52 AM EST

Nation’s Challenges Won’t Be Any Easier in 2011

by Stuart Rothenberg December 20, 2010 · 8:00 AM EST

For Democrats, 2010 is ending on a low note.

The party’s circular firing squad over the tax cut deal didn’t help the party’s image, the economy doesn’t yet show signs of a strong enough rebound to bring down unemployment and potential foreign policy problems continue to loom just over the…

Kentucky Governor: Insert Horse Race Analogy Here

by Nathan L. Gonzales December 17, 2010 · 3:30 PM EST

Two years ago, who would have thought that candidates would be trying to emulate Ron Paul’s son’s campaign? But after Republican Rand Paul’s incredible rise to the U.S. Senate from Kentucky last year, at least one candidate is trying to recreate the magic in 2011. 

The cement is barely set on…

Mississippi Governor: Haley’s Shadow

by Nathan L. Gonzales December 17, 2010 · 3:29 PM EST

The political world will be watching Mississippi next year, but not necessarily because of the state’s gubernatorial election.

Out-going Gov. Haley Barbour (R) is a potential presidential candidate and would be viewed as a considerable force in the contest for the GOP nomination in 2012 if he…

Louisiana Governor: Lonely at the Top

by Nathan L. Gonzales December 17, 2010 · 3:28 PM EST

Technically, voters in Louisiana will select a governor next year, but almost a year out from the election it doesn’t look as if Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) is going to have much of a race.

President Obama lost the state by almost 20 points in 2008, but Democrats had high hopes of knocking off (or at…

Have Democrats Forgotten the Election Already?

by Stuart Rothenberg December 15, 2010 · 9:48 AM EST

Many House Democrats apparently figure that November’s elections had nothing to do with them, their agenda or their leadership.

Sure, their party lost 63 House seats, with voters more than wiping out the Democratic gains from 2006 and 2008 and rejecting their argument that the election was a…

DLC’s 100 Democrats List Predicted Governors, Stars

by Nathan L. Gonzales December 14, 2010 · 2:34 PM EST

In the summer of 2000, Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley appeared on the cover of the Democratic Leadership Council’s magazine. A decade later, O’Malley was re-elected to a second term as governor of Maryland and is the new chairman of the Democratic Governors Association.

O’Malley was one of the…

Rothenberg’s End of the Year Awards for 2010

by Stuart Rothenberg December 10, 2010 · 11:02 AM EST

Every year, I look back and nominate a number of politicians, campaigns and politically related entities as the “best,” “worst” or even “weirdest” of the cycle. I’m doing it again this year, because — let’s be honest — it’s a way of combining political analysis with personal animosity.

So here…

1998 Civility Promises Seem Like Long Ago

by Stuart Rothenberg December 9, 2010 · 9:35 AM EST

It has been a dozen years since then-Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Martin Frost (Texas) and then-National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman John Linder (Ga.) agreed to a cease-fire on “personal attacks” by the campaign committees.

Yes, you read that correctly —…

Feingold Couldn’t Re-Create ’92 Magic

by Nathan L. Gonzales December 8, 2010 · 10:25 AM EST

It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

Russ Feingold’s reputation as a maverick and clever campaign ads were supposed to insulate him from the national wave that swept out dozens of his Democratic colleagues.

But after 18 years in office, the shine had worn off the Wisconsin Democrat’s…