House News & Analysis

Republican Redistricting Efforts Bankrupt for 2011?

by Nathan L. Gonzales January 17, 2011 · 8:15 AM EST

Republicans are in danger of entering the next stage of redistricting at a significant financial disadvantage thanks to a cash-strapped Republican National Committee and a high-profile outside group that never got off the ground.

In 2009, former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.)…

This Is a Time to Reflect on What Is Important

by Stuart Rothenberg January 12, 2011 · 9:43 AM EST

The political fallout from the horrific shootings in Tucson, Ariz., on Saturday was predictable. Members of Congress called for a return to civility, gun control advocates used the tragedy to call for more gun control and some liberals blamed the violence on conservatives.

So what else is new?

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…

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.

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 — a cease-fire on personal attacks.

“The…

Well, That was Quite an Election, Wasn’t It?

by Stuart Rothenberg December 3, 2010 · 4:01 PM EST

I know, everything has been said about the 2010 midterm elections but not everyone has said it. Don’t worry. I’ll be brief.

The exit polls showed movement toward the GOP by most demographic groups. Independent voters went strongly Republican (by 18 percentage points), thereby reversing their 2008 and…

Maryland 1: Wave Hits the Eastern Shore

by Nathan L. Gonzales December 3, 2010 · 4:00 PM EST

Democrat Frank Kratovil and Republican Andy Harris faced off in Maryland’s 1st District in both 2008 and 2010, but the results couldn’t be any more different. The two outcomes offer a window into the differences between the national Democratic wave years of 2006 and 2008 and the GOP wave…

Democrats Made a Mountain Out of a Molehill

by Stuart Rothenberg December 2, 2010 · 11:06 AM EST

“In retrospect, the die may have been cast for the November elections on May 19, 2010,” Republican consultant Brad Todd said, pointing to the day after the special election in Pennsylvania’s 12th district.

Todd, who is a close adviser to National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (Texas)…