Jamelle Bouie

(Damon Winter/The New York Times) Paul Waldman already tackled this, but it’s worth adding a few more words on this new Pew survey showing declining Democratic identification among young voters: Self-identification figures for Democrats — in national polls asking young people what party they lean more toward — peaked at 62 percent in July 2008, […]

If Republicans retake the majority, which they probably will, their first move will be to extend the Bush tax cuts: “Well, we’re going to stay focused on Election Day. But I think before that, we’re going to continue to demand that this administration and this Congress make it clear that no American will see a […]

At Daily Kos, blogger Hunter takes issue with my claim that “conservatives haven’t really changed the guiding assumptions of American governance”: Saying “the conservative movement hasn’t really changed the guiding assumptions of American governance or stopped the expansion of the welfare state” isn’t just not true, it’s a ridiculous statement. It’s a bit past ridiculous, […]

In the latest Survey USA poll of Virginia’s 5th District, Rep. Tom Perriello trails his Republican opponent, state Sen. Robert Hurt, by more than 25 points: A new poll in the 5th District Congressional race continues to show a commanding lead for Republican challenger Robert Hurt. Compared to an identical survey six weeks ago, Hurt […]

Over at his blog, Brendan Nyhan has a nice critique of the “tactical fallacy,” or the tendency among pundits and consultants to blame electoral losses on insufficiently savvy tactics, rather than outside forces like unemployment or voter enthusiasm. Here’s Nyhan: The problem is that any reasonable political tactic chosen by professionals will tend to resonate […]

Writing for National Review, Robert Costa interviews Patrick Caddell, former pollster for Jimmy Carter, for his take on the midterm elections. Rather than a referendum on President Obama or the Democratic Party, Caddell sees November as a “broader referendum on the political class”: “Democrats used to be the voice of the common man in America, […]

In the least surprising survey result ever, Gallup finds that non-Hispanic whites make up the vast majority of the Republican coalition: As far as the GOP’s political strategy is concerned, I think it’s far more important to note the significant advantage Republicans have among older voters; 57 percent of whites age 45 and older voted […]

Today, I have a review up of American Taliban by Markos Moulitsas, founder of Daily Kos. You should read the full thing, but here’s the gist: …ultimately, any similarities are vastly outweighed by incredibly important distinctions and vast differences of degree. I’m no fan of the right wing, but the only possible way it can […]

(Wikipedia Commons) In his new memoir, Tony Blair says no: One of the most ludicrous caricatures of George is that he was a dumb idiot who stumbled into the presidency. No one stumbles into that job, and the history of American presidential campaigns is littered with the corpses of those who were supposed to be […]