Vox -The presidency is extremely important, of course. But there are also thousands of critically important offices all the way down the ballot. And the vast majority — 70 percent of state legislatures, more than 60 percent of governors, 55 percent of attorneys general and secretaries of state — are in Republicans hands. And, of course, Republicans control both chambers of Congress. Indeed, even the House infighting reflects, in some ways, the health of the GOP coalition. Republicans are confident they won't lose power in the House and are hungry for a vigorous argument about how best to use the power they have.
Not only have Republicans won most elections, but they have a perfectly reasonable plan for trying to recapture the White House. But Democrats have nothing at all in the works to redress their crippling weakness down the ballot. Democrats aren't even talking about how to improve on their weak points, because by and large they don't even admit that they exist.
Instead, the party is focused on a competition between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton over whether they should go a little bit to Obama's left or a lot to his left, options that are unlikely to help Democrats down-ballot in the face of an unfriendly House map and a more conservative midterm electorate. The GOP might be in chaos, but Democrats are in a torpor.
1 comment:
Every time I read a "Vox" article it seems more clear that they are the well-funded voice of a conservative element of the Democratic party - the DLC by another name. One of the reasons they cite why Democrats are losing races is that they have abandoned the "Grand Bargain" to cut Social Security and Medicare in order to balance the budget - right, that one really gets the grass-roots fired up. They don't consider that it could be the tepid economic "recovery" or the failure to address income inequality or prosecute Wall St. Crooks that has led traditional Democrats to lose enthusiasm for the party why anybody who gives voice to genuine popular discontent gains in popularity - even if they're a right-leaning goofball. Vox has the right electoral map but their directions are lousy.
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