GUEST POST: THIRD WAY RESPONDS. As the authors of the Third Way election report Looking Red, Voting Blue, we write to respond to the criticisms of our report made by Tom Schaller and Mark Schmitt. (Ezra Klein also has attacked our report, but he offers nothing new.)
First, it's clear that we all agree that the 2006 electorate was redder than in 2004. It was wealthier and whiter, and more rural, male, religious, and married. We also all agree that is typical of off-year versus presidential year elections.
Where we disagree is the significance of this difference, and we take each of the major criticisms of our report in turn: