The Bush GOP'S Fatal Contraction....

[Stuart G]

From MSNBC..., The National Journal

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27842524/

The Bush GOP's fatal contraction
Bush leaves behind a party that looks more like a clubhouse than coalition


Ron Brownstein

WASHINGTON - As George W. Bush's presidency winds down, the Republican Party's greatest problem is that it doesn't appear to be reaching much of anybody who isn't already watching Fox News. Bush leaves behind a party that looks less like a coalition than a clubhouse.

The consistent thread linking the 2006 and 2008 elections was the narrowing of the playing field for Republicans even as Democrats extended their reach into places once considered reliably "red." Consider the Electoral College maps available to John McCain and Barack Obama. By the presidential campaign's final days, McCain was seriously competing in only two states that went for John Kerry in 2004: Pennsylvania and New Hampshire. McCain ultimately was routed in both; indeed, Obama not only defended all 19 states (plus the District of Columbia) that Kerry won but held McCain to 42 percent or less in all but three of them.

By contrast, Obama through Election Day seriously contested 10 states that voted for Bush in 2004 -- among them eight that twice went for Bush and four (Colorado, Indiana, North Carolina, and Virginia) that had voted Democratic for president no more than once since 1964. Obama ultimately won nine of those 10 previously red states (with McCain holding Missouri after an extended recount).

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I have seen a lot on this election. Aside from Barack's overwhelming win, this one article, may have made me feel the best..
please read it...it gets better as you read it all..........