With the exception of Tom Foley (D-WA) who lost the house to Gingrich in 1994, there has never been a Speaker of the House nor a Majority Leader of the Senate from the West. This year, if the astonishing-yet-still-plausible occurs and Democrats sweep both houses, we should have a House Speaker from California (Pelosi) and a Majority Leader from Nevada (Reid.) Just thought it was an interesting sign that the West is coming into its own politically. May they do better than Foley.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
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4 comments:
Dr.S may be more on the money than he realizes. Look at the electoral map again. The real battle for the future is not the upper south (where it is today) but the West.
California used to be solid Republican - no longer. Washington and Oregon are now blue states. Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico are all in the process of becoming blue states. The urbanizing west is becoming blue. The future of the Democratic party is a coalition of the North, the midwest, and the West.
It looks a lot like the Republican/progressive party of the 1890s.
// posted by LTG
I can always count on LTG for the historical perspective. You know, until Bush stapled his party to the evangelical agenda, the up-and-coming "blueness" of the West was not the same as the West going Democratic. Republicans could have competed for the middle ground. Instead, they chose to win a razor-thin election by galvanizing the extremists. Looks like the gig might be up this year. Let's hope so!
Check out the senate race in Montana where a Democrat leads - the govenror of that state is already a Democrat.
Daily Kos is full of good news about Democratic races in districts from Wyoming, Idaho, Nebraska, New Mexico, Arizona and even Busby is back in the race down in San Diego!
It is these normally safe Republican districts that at risk for them and it's giving them fits. The GOP is playing whack-a-mole with all these pesky Democratic candidates.
The Democrats are saying now that they will borrow up to $10 million to contest all the races that unexpectedly close! They think they might pick up as many as 40 seats in the House. These expectations are confirmed by rumors about the GOP's own polls.
I just spoke to a knowledgable friend of mine who is down right giddy with the prospect of a "blood bath" in the House races.
But we all have to keep the pressure up. Remember, these people are trying to destroy American constitutional government. Show them no electoral mercy. Get out the vote! Bring friends! Get them to bring friends!
EVERYONE VOTE!
// posted by RBR
Academic study on Diebold voting machines ! I would have posted on its own but I want LTG's posting about Olberman to be the top thing on the page for a while.
http://itpolicy.princeton.edu/voting/
// posted by RBR
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