Republican Relief at Obama’s Action on Immigration?

Despite GOP threats to cut government funding or take legal action, some Republicans may be relieved that President Barack Obama is moving to address the nation’s immigration problems. Executive action allows Republicans to have the best of both worlds: progress on immigration policy without having to cast a vote that would anger conservatives opposed to leniency for illegal immigrants.
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Senate Politics and Defeat of the Keystone Pipeline Bill

So the first major congressional vote after the midterm elections, on the Keystone XL Pipeline, was primarily about political self-interest and big-money influence–even though that’s what voters just said they hate about Congress. Despite nine votes by the Republican-controlled House in favor of constructing the pipeline, the Democratic Senate leadership had refused, until Tuesday, to allow a vote on the pipeline.
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Could Congress’s Moderates Make a Difference?

The disappearance and defeat of moderate legislators will make governing next year all the more difficult–something congressional leaders ought to keep in mind as they strategize for the next Congress. There’s a lot of finger-pointing going on inside the Democratic Party. Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, a member of the House Democratic leadership and a supporter of Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, said Thursday that the midterm elections were “focused around President Obama. And it was not decided on a House of Representatives strategy. We had base voters who were disappointed in the President and who did not come out.”
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Missing From the Agenda? Signs of Compromise.

Can the two parties bridge their differences and get a few things done over the next two years? The early signs aren’t good. President Barack Obama‘s behavior and statements at his news conference Wednesday suggested that he may be in denial about the definitive rejection of his management style, political leadership and policy direction that the American people handed him Tuesday. The president said that he is willing to work with congressional Republicans but also that he is not going to change his policy priorities or positions. His reaction seemed to be: Move along, nothing to see here, everything is going to proceed as normal.
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A Closer Look at Virginia’s (Low) Turnout

There are a lot of things for Democrats to be depressed about after Tuesday’s midterm outcomes, but two of the biggest are Virginia and Colorado, vital swing states where Democrats performed poorly and where unhappiness about Barack Obama really made the difference. In Colorado, incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Udall was defeated by Republican Cory Gardner by more than four points. In Virginia, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner appears to have won reelection by only about 12,000 votes over former Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie. Mr. Gillespie has not ruled out seeking a recount, which Virginia law permits when the difference in vote totals is less than 1%.
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In Colorado and Beyond, Voters Turned Off by More of the Same

For all of the billions spent on the midterms and the fixation by the two parties and national media over which party will control the Senate, a lot of Americans don’t think either party has really made its case. That’s why every poll shows such low voter enthusiasm and disapproval of both parties. Nothing about this campaign has given voters reason to believe political gridlock and dysfunction will end, no matter which party controls the Senate.
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‘Dishonest Abe’ and the Power of Television Attack Ads

With the polls closing, voters will soon be free of ads claiming that this president is “trying to take our economic freedom away,” that he’s “soft on terror” and that he refuses to “secure our borders, safeguard our nation, save our heritage.” But those who can stand just a few more attack ads, or who want to end the midterm elections with a laugh, should check out why those claims aren’t about Barack Obama but about Abraham Lincoln.
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Yes, Independent Swing Voters Are Real. And May Decide Who Wins Elections

This midterm election has been pretty terrible measured by the metrics that independent/swing voters care about. Instead, there’s been a record $4 billion spent mostly on vacuous television attack ads, little substantive discussion about important issues or a clear argument for how Republicans or Democrats would lead the nation, and the feeling that nothing will really change in Washington no matter which party wins control of the Senate. That’s why a lot of voters could stay home November 4th. But in the closest races around the country—the 10 Senate races that are within five percentage points, including those in Colorado, North Carolina, Georgia, New Hampshire, and Iowa, at least half a dozen gubernatorial contests, and a handful of House races—the swing voters who do show up could determine the outcomes.
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