Opportunity Lost: How Schwarzenegger failed to rescue California GOP

… The California GOP was already well on its way to marginalization, thanks to positions on immigration, abortion and other issues that pushed the party increasingly to the right of most Californians. But the fiscally conservative, socially liberal Schwarzenegger offered hope: to broaden the appeal of California Republicans, move the […] Read more »

Ten years after recall, California still feels effects

Ten years ago, California erupted in an anti-government, anti-establishment convulsion unlike any ever seen. Disgruntled voters seized the chance for a rare do-over, recalling their staid and serious governor, Gray Davis, and replacing him less than a year after his reelection with one of the most famous and exuberant personalities […] Read more »

National stakes in Virginia’s gubernatorial race

… Cuccinelli matches the profile of the kind of candidate whom many Republican activists wish their party would nominate for national office — someone authentically and unapologetically conservative and willing to fight for those ideas. To these conservatives, the past two Republican presidential nominees, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in […] Read more »

McAuliffe Leads Cuccinelli Ahead of Debate

Fueled by support with women and better likability ratings, Democrat Terry McAuliffe leads Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli by 5 percentage points among likely voters, 43-38 percent, according to a new NBC4/NBC News/Marist poll released Monday night. Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis gets support from 8 percent of likely voters, and […] Read more »

Terry McAuliffe’s Summer Stunner

In some odd years, gubernatorial races and special congressional elections offer a foreshadowing, or at least a hint, of what might happen in the next year’s national elections. In other odd years, no pattern emerges. We never know which until after the national elections occur, making the off-year elections a […] Read more »