Liberal Hype: Harry Reid

Showing posts with label Harry Reid. Show all posts

"All Politics is Local" or How the Republicans Won the Midterms

One of the best-known political sayings, especially for Congressional campaigns, is the oft-quoted "all politics is local"- meaning that running on an individual candidate basis and on each incumbent's personal record is always more effective than running as a group of candidates with a national party platform. Well, here's the biggest lesson Democrats can learn from Tuesday night: all politics is not local. The Democrats ran very, very local campaigns- every ad, every speech was about the race-specific candidates and the local issues. But if there can ever be an all-or-none winner in politics, the Democrats lost this year. The Republicans, on the other hand, commanded a 'wave' election; their nationally-minded campaigns energized voters and turned independents against Democrats they had supported just two years earlier.
The Republican strategy was hardly surprising. For months- ever since a several page document on Republican talking points was leaked to Politico- it has been understood how the Republicans would run for the midterms. Essentially, each Republican candidate this year ran a miniature piece of a national campaign against Barack Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and the National Democratic Party. They effectively set the national vocabulary (Obamacare), the national agenda, and demonized the Democratic leadership, most notably Nancy Pelosi.
And for the Republicans, it worked. If this had been a presidential election, Obama would have been defeated rather swiftly. For some reason, the Democrats seemed to have forgotten how to win an election cycle, a skill they had mastered only two years ago, and this new inability to participate in politics in mirrored in Democratic actions in Congress. For a group of people who run on platforms where the individual issues are incredibly popular and have passed reforms of all types- health care, banking regulation, credit, pay equality, student loan- the Democrats are completely unable to sell their platform. If the Democrats cannot sell their agenda, they will be hard-pressed to find Republicans who want to compromise with them. If Democrats cannot sell their agenda, they had best look forward to another election just like this one- or worse.
So, Democrats, learn to partake in real politics. It may not always be the most graceful way to pass your far-reaching plans, but with a new Republican majority in the house, it may be the only way to do so.

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Midterms 2010: Biggest Wins and Losses

Billed as the most exciting and cutthroat midterms in a long time, yesterday's election panned out essentially how the pundits said it would. The Democrat's losses were monumental, costing some serious, moderate candidates office because of the wave-style of the Republican wins.

The Democrats' Biggest Losses
The party in power barely hung onto the Senate two nights ago, and the House was cleanly called for the former minority early on. Some of the most important races for Democrats became the easiest for the Republicans to win.
Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania- Sestak is a Democratic Pennsylvanian Congressman who beat Senator Arlen Specter in the Democratic primary for Senate (Specter was a Republican senator until last year, when he switched parties). Sestak was a promising candidate who had the potential to be a real ally for President Obama in the Senate, but he was unable to win the seat.
Florida Senate- In probably one of the strangest races this year, the independent candidate- Florida Governor Charlie Christ- had a much better chance than the democrat, Kendrick Meek. Christ, though he is traditionally a Republican, would have been a much better compromiser in the Senate than the Senator-to-be, Marco Rubio. Christ is much more moderate and undeniably more ready to work with the Democrats.
The House of Representatives- The absolutely least surprising of the Democratic losses, but it is the most monumental in what it means for the entire country. This loss changes the entire leadership in the House (most notably unseating Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House) and creates a split-party majority in Congress.

The Democrats' Biggest Wins
So it wasn't the Democrats' night. However, there were some important gains and retainment of seats by the Democrats.
Harry Reid- Senator Reid faced a tough, if highly criticized, opponent in Republican Sharron Angle. Reid's win, in addition to the Democrat's recapture of the Senate, secured him the majority leader spot, the highest legislative position in the Senate.
Christine O'Donnell- The Delaware Senate race was the least surprising wins for Democrats (O'Donnell was declared the loser quickly after the polls closed in Delaware) but an important one nonetheless because of its huge national visibility, most of which can be attributed to the Saturday Night Live sketches about O'Donnell.
Barbara Boxer- In the closing weeks of the midterm campaigns, it became common knowledge that Boxer was going to have trouble winning the California Senate seat. She was facing a career businesswoman, and many in the media saw the race as a voter vindication of either politicians or businesspeople. Boxer sailed through her race on election night, however, securing one more seat for the Democratic party.