Tag Archives: Mike Huckabee

JESSICA BADER: As the political season turns from the 2010 elections to the 2012 elections, the reason behind what went wrong for the Democrats this year will be crucial to determining their game plan for 2012. An environment in which defeat was the result of an “enthusiasm gap” – political-speak for “loyal Democratic voters staying home” – calls for a very different strategy than one where the party was done in by previous supporters angrily flipping to the Republicans. While it’s still way too early for any one poll to tell us all that much, and while this country is big and diverse enough that there are different explanations for the election results in different regions, a recent poll of Virginia voters provides much food for thought.

HOWARD MEGDAL: It’s hard to see things getting worse politically for Barack Obama than they are now. The economy, while still under-performing, is improving. The Democratic base simply didn’t turn out in 2010; the GOP base had their best showing in nearly two decades. And still, in trial heats for the presidency, Obama does no worse than tie every possible opponent, while soundly defeating the best-known of the bunch.

In short, media political narrative is no less a lagging indicator to political reality than unemployment is for economic reality. And both should improve for Barack Obama in time for a 2012 win of fairly massive proportions.
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