Common wisdom holds that former president Donald Trump remains the dominant force within the Republican Party. The truth is that his personal influence and standing are not as powerful as many imagine, and his power is as likely to decline as it is to increase. There’s no denying that many […] Read more »
Preparing for the election, whatever the rules
Democrats have been understandably upset at Republican efforts to make voting more difficult — especially for minority voters and others who have supported Democrats in the past. … National and key state Democrats have been doing what they can to stop GOP efforts, but unless Congress acts to protect and […] Read more »
Joe Manchin is a bona fide centrist. Deal with it
Joe Manchin is a bona fide centrist, a political animal nearing extinction in the Democratic Party, whose home state of West Virginia gave Donald Trump his second-highest winning percentage last fall, with 69 percent of the vote. … Manchin’s the kind of senator that presidential candidate Joe Biden and, once […] Read more »
New Democratic focus groups find many voters aren’t sure what the party stands for
New focus groups conducted by a prominent Democratic pollster warn that many voters “have trouble describing a clear positive vision of what the Democratic Party stands for.” The study of swing voters and liberal “surge” voters in competitive districts, led by Celinda Lake of Lake Research Partners and requested by […] Read more »
Writing the Narrative Of the 2022 Midterms
For more years than I would like to think about, a phrase coined by my freshman college English professor has come to my mind. Trying to coax a class into explaining the essence of a particular short story, the professor facetiously asked, “What is its aboutness?” That’s how I often […] Read more »
How Joe Manchin Survives as a Democrat in West Virginia
… Mr. Manchin’s unique ability to survive in West Virginia is the last vestige of the state’s once-reliable New Deal Democratic tradition, dating to old industrial-era fights over workers’ wages, rights and safety. It was one of the most reliably Democratic states of the second half of the 20th century, […] Read more »