With a brutal finality, the extent of the Republicans’ collapse in the House came into focus last week as more races slipped away from them and their losses neared 40 seats. Yet nearly a month after the election, there has been little self-examination among Republicans about why a midterm that […] Read more »
What George H.W. Bush’s Theology Teaches Us About the UCLA Theory of Parties
When biographers are interviewed about George H.W. Bush, they often emphasize that he was more interested in governing than in campaigning. In the 1992 debates, he famously looked at his watch as if he would rather be somewhere else. In First to the Party, I show that he made a […] Read more »
2020 Senate contests come into focus
After this week’s Mississippi Senate race, the 2018 midterms are now in the rearview mirror, and politically speaking, it’s time to turn attention to 2020 — not to the big presidential contest, but to the next set of Senate races. When compared with 2016 presidential data, the results from this […] Read more »
The Republican Party Has Changed Dramatically Since George H.W. Bush Ran It
George H.W. Bush, whose death at 94 was announced on Friday by his family, was a hugely influential figure in the Republican Party: chairman of the Republican National Committee, vice president, president and father of another GOP president. But the GOP has changed dramatically since it nominated Bush for the […] Read more »
George H.W. Bush, the anti-Trump
It is hard to imagine two men more disparate in character than the 41st and 45th presidents of the United States. George H.W. Bush and Donald J. Trump had almost nothing in common beyond their privileged upbringing and membership in the Republican Party. … So how, in the space of […] Read more »
The Trump Effect in California’s Blue Wave Mid-Term Election
by Mark DiCamillo In the final weeks leading up to this year’s November mid-term elections, President Donald Trump encouraged voters across the country to vote as if he were on the ballot. When he said this, it got me to thinking what that might mean for voters here in California. […] Read more »