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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: calgal who wrote (24073)	11/11/2007 10:11:15 PM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71588

Off-Year Blues... But next year, Republicans might be singing a happier tune by Fred Barnes 11/19/2007, Volume 013, Issue 10 Increase Font Size \| Printer-Friendly \| Email a Friend \| Respond to this article Republicans lost the governorship of Kentucky and the state senate in Virginia last week. But the elections were not as bad as they looked for Republicans. Knocked down and trampled on by Democrats in 2006, Republicans are at least back on their feet in 2007. The Democratic trend in Virginia, especially in the suburbs of Washington and urban centers of Hampton Roads, was the most discouraging aspect for Republicans. It reinforced the likelihood that former Democratic governor Mark Warner will win the seat of retiring Republican senator John Warner next year and suggested the long Democratic drought at the presidential level might be ending. The last Democrat to win Virginia was Lyndon Johnson in 1964. Bush won the state in 2004 by 8 points. "The right Democratic candidate can win Virginia," Governor Tim Kaine said last week. "The wrong Democrat can't." Kaine, a Democrat, has endorsed Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination. Taking into account Republican Bobby Jindal's election last month as governor of Louisiana and the strong (but losing) performance of Republican Jim Ogonowski in a special House election in a heavily Democratic district in Massachusetts, Republicans are in considerably better shape now than a year ago. The Republican brand. It is a far from what it once was, particularly in Virginia, but it appears to be gradually regaining respectability. The most startling example was the upset victory of Greg Ballard as mayor of Indianapolis. Badly outspent and lacking strong name identification, Ballard knocked off a two-term Democratic incumbent. In Mississippi, Republicans made serious inroads. Governor Haley Barbour was re-elected with ease, and Republicans took all but one statewide office. In Louisiana, Republicans have a chance to win the state house in next week's runoff election. They must win 11 of 16 races, an unlikely event, but not impossible either since Katrina drove more than 100,000 Democrats from the state. Better yet, Republicans have a candidate in Louisiana to challenge Democratic senator Mary Landrieu in 2006. This is John Kennedy, who recently switched parties, and was unopposed in his re-election as state treasurer. Taxes. The tax issue--no, the anti-tax issue--wasn't a factor in the 2006 election, but it's coming back. Republicans desperately need it. It's the one issue that binds Republicans of all ideological stripes while also attracting independents and soft Democrats. Ballard's victory in Indianapolis was spurred by his opposition to raising property taxes and to a county income tax. In Washington, a generally blue state, voters rejected two referendums to increase taxes and passed another bolstering the legislative super-majority required to enact a tax hike. In Oregon, voters refused to raise cigarette taxes to pay for child health care. The Democratic presidential candidates have helped revive the tax issue by insisting on letting the Bush tax cuts expire. And the Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Charles Rangel, has proposed a 4 percent surtax on high earners. New Republican faces. There aren't many, but then only a few states hold elections on odd years. The most important newcomer is Jindal, 36, one of the most impressive Republicans in the country. He is both a policy-generating machine and a smart politician. Jindal is bound to attract national attention. weeklystandard.com