November 21, 2014
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.Please click here to read the full article.
November 18, 2014
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.Please click here to read the full article.
November 7, 2014
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.”Please click here to read the full article.
November 6, 2014
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.Please click here to read the full article.
November 5, 2014
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%.Please click here to read the full article.
November 4, 2014
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.Please click here to read the full article.
November 4, 2014
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.Please click here to read the full article.
October 31, 2014
The Virginia Senate race, which has largely stayed off the national media’s radar screen because incumbent Democrat Mark Warner is expected to be comfortably reelected, illustrates how negative television advertising has come to dominate political campaigns. Polls show Sen. Warner leading his opponent, former Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie, by seven t0 10 points. Yet the Warner campaign chose to go negative, creating ads that labeled Mr. Gillespie a “million-dollar lobbyist who has never looked out for you” and who worked for Enron and “a dictator now awaiting trial for war crimes.”Please click here to read the full article.
October 30, 2014
Two recent surveys of Latinos and young people, both previously considered mostly Democratic supporters, prove that these groups do swing in their voting patterns, something Democrats should keep in mind for 2016. A Pew Research Center survey–written about further here–found that most Hispanic voters still favor Democrats but that support has been shrinking the past four years. Similarly, 18- to 30-year-olds who were so excited by Barack Obama‘s 2008 candidacy have cooled on both politics and the Democrats.Please click here to read the full article.
October 23, 2014
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie made a startling pronouncement this week about why Republicans need to win the statehouses in key swing states this year that was almost certainly tied to his presidential ambitions. At a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event Tuesday, Gov. Christie said that Republicans must win gubernatorial races this year so they control voting procedures for 2016.Please click here to read the full article.
