The two candidates in the Virginia governor’s race are talking more about Donald Trump, the former President, than they are about Joe Biden, the White House’s current occupant. That disparity in the dialogue between Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin points toward an unusual, even unprecedented, dynamic looming over […] Read more »
Decades before Trump’s election lies, McCarthy’s anti-communist fever gripped the GOP
… Most of what Republicans espouse as a unified minority in Congress comes straight from the party’s identical platforms for 2016 and 2020. But a glaring new feature has been added to the party’s agenda at the insistence of former President Donald Trump. Its adoption among Republican candidates and officeholders […] Read more »
All politics isn’t local anymore
I’ve spent plenty of time over the past three decades reminding national political reporters and political junkies that off-year gubernatorial races don’t tell us a hell of a lot about what will happen in the next midterm election or the next presidential contest. State and local races, after all, tend […] Read more »
Why neither party has a sustainable political majority
Let me tell you a little story. Nine years ago, Barack Obama won a second term in office, and there was talk of an emerging Democratic majority in presidential elections. Then came Donald Trump, the least liked major party nominee of all time, who won the 2016 election — albeit […] Read more »
Virginia is for worriers: Governor race poses real risk to Dem agenda
The Democratic Party’s fortunes are increasingly tied to someone who’s never served a day in federal office: Terry McAuliffe. Losing ground in a Virginia gubernatorial campaign once seen as a near-lock for Democrats, McAuliffe has sought to nationalize the race — calling out congressional inaction and President Joe Biden’s waning […] Read more »
Is a Democratic Wipeout Inevitable?
… The lesson of history is that it is extremely difficult for presidents to translate legislative success in their first year into political success in the midterm elections of their second year. Those early achievements can boost presidents in their reelection bids, but in almost all cases they have not […] Read more »