Republicans - A National Party No More?

[MikePorter]

The Republicans are in danger of being confined to the South

The Republicans also suffered big losses in a region that voted solidly for Bush in 2004—the Mountain West. Three Republicans lost house seats. Conrad Burns lost his Senate seat in Montana (59% for Bush in 2004). Democrats now control five of the eight governorships in the region, compared with none in 2000.

The only place where the national tide had little impact was in the South. The Democrats made a few inroads in the periphery—winning a Senate seat in Virginia and House seats in North Carolina, Florida and Texas. But deep southern states such as Georgia and Mississippi remained unchanged. Exit polls showed that only 36% of white voters in the South voted for Democratic House candidates; it was 58% in the north-east.

The Republican Party's problems are made worse by the fact that the Democrats have done a good deal to escape from their own Democratic prison. Beyond their gains in the Mountain West, they will be able to display some interesting new faces when the next Congress assembles in January: like Brad Ellsworth of Indiana, who boasts an A-grade from the National Rifle Association, Mike Weaver of Kentucky, who opposes abortion rights, Heath Shuler, of North Carolina, who boasts that he is “pro-business, pro-life and pro-gun”, and Jim Webb of Virginia, who likes nothing better than denouncing the liberal elite.

http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8360116

[Vogon_Glory]

1. You Noticed That, Too. I'd Been Saying It Since The Election.

You noticed that, too. I'd been saying that since the November election and have been gleefully making on-line wisecracks about Zell Miller's prediction about the Democratic Party being turned on its head.

Nice for the Brits at the Economist to take notice.