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 and the economy, or about the Democratic […]
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 who live in big cities and on […]
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 Reps. Betsy Markey (Colo.), Suzanne Kosmas (Fla.), […]
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 Congressional Democrats weren’t the answer, the election cycle […]
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 and the high number of mail-in […]
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, but he could prevail if Murkowski and […]
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 years. But he was elected in 2006 […]
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, 2009). In it, I noted that […]