Apart from Republican Gov. Chris Christie’s big victory in New Jersey, there was more to fear than to cheer for both parties in this week’s election results. The outcomes, especially in Virginia, solidified the sense that each party is now operating with more weaknesses than strengths. For Democrats, the most […] Read more »
No Easy Road for Christie
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had a good week. Tuesday brought his easy re-election to a second term, leading to more talk about his enhanced place in the Republican 2016 presidential pecking order. But Tuesday night’s numbers may not tell us as much about Mr. Christie’s 2016 possibilities as some […] Read more »
The GOP Still Hasn’t Figured Out How to Get On With the Tea Party
Postmortems of odd-year and special elections often suffer from overly broad generalizations that push a particular narrative while overlooking any arguments that get in the way. The instant analyses also tend to suffer from the impulse to extrapolate results and divine great meaning, as if they foreshadow the future. I’ll […] Read more »
What Democrats have going for them? Republicans
… Conservatives are already explaining away the Cuccinelli defeat. He was vastly outspent by McAuliffe. He was tarnished the incumbent Republican governor’s ethics scandal. He was hurt by the government shutdown — which was, of course, engineered by Tea Party Republicans. One in three Virginia voters said someone in their household […] Read more »
Lessons for 2014 and beyond from the 2013 Elections
The great thing about elections is that they have a definitive conclusion. People win. People lose. Even so, everyone has a different definition of what the results actually “mean.” Here’s how I see it: CONT. Amy Walter, Cook Political Report Read more »
Why Chris Christie’s Popularity May Tear His Party Apart
Chris Christie has become a national phenomenon. His “crushing margin” for re-election as governor of New Jersey on Tuesday has landed him on the cover of Time. He’s now considered a “leading contender” for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. Christie clearly has the attention of the national media, as […] Read more »