Upcoming blogging
Several issues have come-up with the results of these elections.
1) Terry McAuliffe is an evil man who has stolen and sold the soul of the Democratic Party. I hated him when he became party leader, I hate him more now. Install Carville and Begala. Principle over cash. If Ralph Reed is going to be the Republicans street-fighter, let’s get ours in the game.
Update: And apparently Ramesh at NRO agrees with my assessment of McAuliffe on strategic matters.
2) In the west the consensus movement between environmentalists and ranchers has produced a win in the Wyoming race. Environmentalists need to think about how to pursue a conservationist agenda that includes those not traditionally considered environmental allies. I’ve been thinking about this a lot for several months and the surge in Wyoming and the Hog Farm issues in North Carolina and Iowa has crystallized my thinking on the issue. I’ve been waiting for the election to see if it produced a win. This will be one of the themes of this blog for a while post-election.
3) Rod Blagojevich has a hell of a learning curve ahead of him. Lisa Madigan has a hell of a future ahead of her. Birkett goes home and tries to fry more innocents. Jim Ryan makes a lot of money and enjoys life.
4) Peter Fitzgerald was a nice side-show with a close Senate. He did all sorts of things that Illinois needs like P Fitzgerald and Miquelon. Those are luxuries we no longer can afford. First, clear out Mosely-Braun. Then cull the herd of Hull, Obama (an emotional favorite), Hynes, and Chico. Get behind the strongest challenger and encourage a business challenge in the GOP to primary Fitzgerald, AKA light the match to the civil war.
5) McBride lost, class size won. Mark Russell has long had a bit about America being ideologically conservative, but operationally liberal. Florida seems to demonstrate this quite well. What does this mean for Democratic candidates?
6) Reallignment is real and clearly occurring. Democrats are starting to make serious inroads into the Northeastern Republicans. How can we speed this process up? How can we make 1994 happen in a region hospitable to us? Part of this is related to Judis-Texiera, but also to some real political science work going on that demonstrates the rotating pattern between social and economic issues since 1896. If you pay close attention, you might get a preview of some political science work coming out in the top journals that is related to the Emerging Democratic Majority.
7) Lots on how the median voter theorem relates to our system. Some discussion has broken out on various blogs. I hope to add to it.
8) Replace McAuliffe. Oh, I mentioned that already. Did I mention get rid of McAuliffe? How about Davis? Torricelli is gone, let’s get rid of the rest of the unholy trinity.