"The missing story of the 2014 election"

[applegrove]

The missing story of the 2014 election

By chrisladd a Chron

http://blog.chron.com/goplifer/2014/11/the-missing-story-of-the-2014-election/#28114101=0

"SNIP...........................


What emerges from the numbers is the continuation of a trend that has been in place for almost two decades. Once again, Republicans are disappearing from the competitive landscape at the national level across the most heavily populated sections of the country while intensifying their hold on a declining electoral bloc of aging, white, rural voters. The 2014 election not only continued that doomed pattern, it doubled down on it. As a result, it became apparent from the numbers last week that no Republican candidate has a credible shot at the White House in 2016, and the chance of the GOP holding the Senate for longer than two years is precisely zero.

For Republicans looking for ways that the party can once again take the lead in building a nationally relevant governing agenda, the 2014 election is a prelude to a disaster. Understanding this trend begins with a stark graphic.

...................

The Blue Wall is block of states that no Republican Presidential candidate can realistically hope to win. Tuesday that block finally extended to New Hampshire, meaning that at the outset of any Presidential campaign, a minimally effective Democratic candidate can expect to win 257 electoral votes without even trying. That’s 257 out of the 270 needed to win.

Arguably Virginia now sits behind that wall as well. Democrats won the Senate seat there without campaigning in a year when hardly anyone but Republicans showed up to vote and the GOP enjoyed its largest wave in modern history. Virginia would take that tally to 270. Again, that’s 270 out of 270.





...........................SNIP"

[applegrove]

1. Be scared GOP. Be very scared.

[CK_John]

2. Between now and the election the GOP is working on busting those blue wall

states from winner take all electoral college votes to votes by district. This could give the GOP 60% of the electoral votes even if they lose the state.

[librechik]

5. yeah they are--and the complexity of the issue will help them sneak it

through the statehouses. But they've tried it before. It's not very popular. I wish they would get rid of the electoral college completely. It's a remnant of a slave-holding society.

[groundloop]

3. I'm not buying this gloom and doom for the GOP.... believe it at our risk

For one thing GOPers stick with their leaders through thick and thin, Democrats abandoned President Obama and got their asses handed to them as a result. I remember more than a few predictions several years ago that the House and Senate were ours for years to come because of GOPer disarray - how's that working out?

[applegrove]

4. Oh. We need to fight like the dickens. Always, always.

[mountain grammy]

6. I agree. I think there's a solid core of Republicans, even those who are sane,

who will vote for any Republican every time and they will vote every time, no matter how awful the candidate. Look at that awful woman in Iowa, look at my own state. Some pretty scary people filling those seats at the highest levels of our government.