How were Democrats able to take back Congress in 2006?

[djmilf]

Originally Posted by workingclasshero

redistricting doesn't happen for about 2-4 years after the census has been counted

so the fact is the 2010 win by the repubs has ZERO to do with the 2010 census

You're right...serves me right for posting before my morning coffee. But a president's party almost always loses seats in the next round of national elections. Add in the Obamacare backlash and I think you'll find the reason for the Republicans taking the House in 2010. Or at least, that's my opinion.

But I still opine that the subsequent Republican election victories in the U.S. House and the various state governments had a lot to do with Republican gerrymandering.

if in fact they gerrymandered after the 2010 census...it would not show up till AT LEAST the 2012 elections (more likely the 2014 or later)

Not in my view. Except for a few contested districts, redistricting took place before the 2012 election.

It's so blatant in Michigan, where the elections usually are evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, but the state legislature and the U.S. Congressional delegation are heavily tilted towards the Republicans, that there's now a serious movement afoot to amend the state constitution to have districts redrawn by non-partisan committees.

[momonkey]

Originally Posted by BobNJ1960

True. Democrats Identity politics 24/7 has helped the GOP Bigly.

That's quite an understatement.


For any party, as undeserving of working American's votes as the Republican Party is, to be considered vastly superior to the Democratic Party such that they keep winning election after election, that really says something about how far Democrats have strayed from the mainstream.

[evilnewbie]

The Democrats haven't change... their policies haven't changed... they have not gone further left... they aren't willing to accept the fundamental truth.... Americans are tired of the Democrats BS... Democrats can blame whatever they want, Americans don't care... and more and more are going to care less...

[momonkey]

Originally Posted by bawac34618

It's not like the aughts were all that much different from today in terms of identity politics. It is more polarized today, but the basic themes in our politics were similar in 2006 to what we have today. Then, we had a very unpopular President who had a decent economy (remember people still thought the economy was good in 2006) but was mired by a war in Iraq and his handling of numerous events like Katrina. That President's unpopularity made people flock to the Democrats in 2006 and 2008. In fact back then it looked like the GOP was in deep trouble and might not be a viable party in the future, much like the Democrats are seen as today. With that in mind, we still had the basic themes of the GOP being seen as the party for "traditional values", patriotism, a strong military, religion, etc and the Democrats as a party for people who vote their identity like the LGBT community, black community, environmentalists, women, etc. Yet they managed to appeal to enough to get a majority in the House and Senate. How did they do it and what would today's Democrats need to change to achieve a similar outcome. Also, like back then, people born after 1982ish tend to be significantly more liberal on social issues than people born before, who are more interested in carrying on the legacy of Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority from the 1980s.

Was it simply a matter of who turned out to vote in 2006 and 2008?

All these events were pre-Tea Party.


In 2005, Republicans were indistinguishable from Democrats except that they were slightly less anti-white and less anti-male than Democrats.


Both parties supported effectively open borders, ****ty, one-sided trade deals, spending with wild abandon and endless government intrusion into our lives.


In 2009, the financial crisis and subsequent bail-outs lit a fire under the collective asses of ordinary working Americans.


We took control of the political affairs of the nation by rejecting the Republican's pre-selected party darlings and instead ran our own slate to Tea Party endorsed candidates.


Over time, we gained control of the primary process and started running candidates that ordinary working Americans could get excited about.


With real alternatives to the corporate whores in both parties (not to mention the race pimps in the Democrat Party), Democrats and establishment Republicans have an extremely difficult time getting candidates elected.