Analysis: Despite setbacks, long term trends may favor GOP [View All]

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Analysis: Despite setbacks, long term trends may favor GOP
Friday, September 30, 2005
By Ronald Brownstein, Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON -- John G. Roberts Jr. is in. Tom DeLay, at least temporarily, is out.

That contrast encapsulates the uneven advance of Republican Party efforts to build a lasting conservative majority in U.S. politics.

After an election in 2004 that consolidated their hold on the White House and Congress, Republicans have suffered through a year of missteps and bad news -- such as this week's indictment of DeLay, the House majority leader from Texas -- that have stirred Democratic hopes of a revival.

And yet, even as poll numbers sag for the GOP, Republicans continue to entrench their control of federal power -- a progression spotlighted by yesterday's lopsided Senate confirmation of Roberts, who as chief justice may tilt the Supreme Court rightward for a quarter-century or more.

These dueling developments capture a Republican ascendancy that looks enduring from some angles and fragile from others, like concrete that hasn't quite set.

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http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05273/580273.stm