Virginia's Election Encapsulates the Problems Both Parties Face

[DonViejo]

Democrats keep losing white voters in droves, and Republicans aren't making inroads with minorities.

By Ronald Brownstein
November 7, 2013

Apart from Republican Gov. Chris Christie’s big victory in New Jersey, there was more to fear than to cheer for both parties in this week’s election results. The outcomes, especially in Virginia, solidified the sense that each party is now operating with more weaknesses than strengths.

For Democrats, the most ominous signal is that the party still faces enormous difficulty convincing most white voters that they will benefit from more, rather than less, government. For Republicans, conversely, the results reinforced the sobering message from 2012 that even commanding margins among whites may be insufficient if the growing minority population continues to overwhelmingly reject the GOP.

These book-ended vulnerabilities collided most revealingly in the Virginia governor’s race. Although winning always beats losing, it is difficult to say which party should be more unnerved by Democrat Terry McAuliffe’s slim victory over Republican Ken Cuccinelli. Should Democrats be more frightened that even against an opponent as flawed and absolutist as Cuccinelli, McAuliffe still lost white voters by 56 percent to 36 percent, according to the Edison Research exit poll? Or should Republicans be more concerned that despite winning whites so convincingly, Cuccinelli still lost the state by 55,000 votes? “The answer,” Virginia-based GOP pollster Glen Bolger says drily, “is yes.”

For Republicans, the Virginia election’s most troubling aspect is that McAuliffe essentially replicated the “coalition of the ascendant” that allowed President Obama to carry the state twice. Like Obama, McAuliffe triumphed by combining just enough socially liberal college-educated whites with an overwhelming margin among minorities to overcome a cavernous deficit among blue-collar whites

full article
http://www.nationaljournal.com/political-connections/virginia-s-election-encapsulates-the-problems-both-parties-face-20131107