Democratic hopes for passing big legislation through the Senate rely on Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. Both have made things difficult for Senate Democrats because they are moderates who have been hesitant to pass big spending packages. But while Democrats are lucky to have a […] Read more »
What will it take for Biden to bring fractured Democrats together?
… There are now many cooks in the kitchen as Democrats seek consensus and compromise between the $3.5 trillion proposed and a $1.5 trillion ceiling Manchin is calling for. Ultimately, however, this is Biden’s agenda and the political judgments will fall most heavily on him, while the rest of his […] Read more »
Biden Throws In With Left, Leaving His Agenda in Doubt
For well over a year now, President Biden’s vaunted negotiating style largely boiled down to this: I’m with you. After he vanquished Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont in the Democratic primary, he brought the liberal icon’s ardent supporters into the fold by embracing much of the senator’s platform even as […] Read more »
The Texas Border Shift
Most of the country saw modest shifts in vote margin from 2016 to 2020. The Texas border stands out for the intensity and breadth of the pro-Republican shift. Miami is also attention getting, but here we focus on Texas. It isn’t that the Texas border counties gave majorities to Trump. […] Read more »
Our republic is gravely sick. A new poll confirms it.
Many Americans are increasingly concerned that our national heritage, our democratic republic, is seriously in danger. A new poll from the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics confirms that we have reason to worry — and that the fault is in ourselves, not our political stars. We can see the […] Read more »
Democrats Could Be Damned if They Do, Damned if They Don’t
… Democrats are correct when they say that many of the individual elements in the pair of spending packages—the more traditional, physical-infrastructure bill, and the expansion of the social safety net via reconciliation—score well when tested in polls. If enacted, they’ll surely prove as popular as Obamacare. After all, while […] Read more »