As Republicans, Democrats and journalists discuss the meaning of this year’s midterm elections, it’s become clear to me that many of questions they ponder present false choices that obscure the lessons of Nov. 2. Here are some of them:
Question No. 1: Were the 2010 midterms “about” jobs…
Elections both reflect a political party’s appeal and create a new face that ultimately recasts that image. And the midterm elections of 2010 are no exception.
For Democrats, “diversity” has been about ideology and region recently — proving to Americans that the party isn’t a bunch of liberals…
There were many messages and lessons to be drawn from the 2010 midterm results, but the most obvious one is that Republican, conservative and swing voters fired Democrats — even Democrats they liked, and even Democrats who took care to vote as their constituents wanted.
Sure, freshmen Democratic…
So what happened this election cycle? As voters across the country head to the polls today, here are a few thoughts.
• Democrats never succeeded in changing the trajectory of the election cycle that developed roughly midway through last year.
Once voters decided President Barack Obama and…
The latest public polls in Washington confirm that the race between Sen. Patty Murray (D) and GOP nominee Dino Rossi is virtually even. It looked like Murray had a narrow advantage as recently as late last week but that edge appears to have evaporated. With the expected close result…
Even after losing the GOP primary, Sen. Lisa Murkowski appears to have the advantage in the race. But if there are complications with her write-in candidacy, there is a narrow chance that Democrat Scott McAdams could win the seat.
McAdams wouldn’t have a shot in a two-way race,…
Republicans who are privately hopeful that the party can beat conventional wisdom on Tuesday and net the 10 seats needed to take the Senate majority might want to talk to Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker.
The first-term Republican isn’t vulnerable; he isn’t even up for re-election for another two…
Republicans are still poised to gain 6-8 seats, though a huge GOP wave could yield one or two more. On the other hand, with a few breaks, Democrats could keep their losses down to 4 or 5 seats, which they’d no doubt argue was a moral victory. Significant Republican…
Reporters like to talk about “surges,” but at this point in the cycle most race changes are small unless some dramatic event causes voters to reassess their assumptions. Democrats seem to have improved their position a bit in Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Wisconsin, but the changes aren’t all that dramatic.…
As Christianity and homosexuality exploded as big issues in the Kentucky and Colorado Senate races, I can only think back to a column I wrote for this space only a little more than a year ago (“In Virginia, Culture War Looks Very Much Alive on One Side,” Sept. 24,…
