Kathianne
12-01-2014, 11:51 PM
It's not what many liberals or conservatives may think. This article goes a long way to what I've been thinking for awhile. It may be the makings of a shift to the right or it may mean even more schisms in the making:
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/the-obama-republicans-113221.html?hp=t2_r
<header style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: proxima-nova, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The Obama Republicans?More GOP House members must defend Democratic-friendly districts.
</header><footer class="meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: proxima-nova, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">By Alex Isenstadt (http://www.politico.com/reporters/AlexIsenstadt.html)
<time datetime="2014-11-30T20:33-05:00" style="box-sizing: border-box;">11/30/14 8:33 PM EST</time>
</footer>
About a week after the Republican midterm romp, nearly 20 soon-to-be House GOP freshmen huddled for a private lunch on the third floor of the Capitol Hill Club. The mood was jubilant: Each had prevailed in a swing district, exploiting deep unhappiness with President Barack Obama and angst over the country’s future.
But as they dug into platters of lasagna, salad and chicken, the newbies were given some sobering news. GOP officials explained that they would be among Democrats’ top 2016 targets — when they’d be up against a more diverse electorate — and they needed to start preparing now.
“The message,” said one aide who was in the room, “was, ‘Don’t bask in the glow of victory.’”
When the new Congress takes the oath in January, Republicans could occupy as many as 247 seats, giving them their most dominant House majority in over 80 years. But it will also usher in an expanded group of Republicans from Democratic-friendly districts, a shift, GOP operatives say, that will reorder the politics of the chamber.
The new Republican Conference will include 26 members from districts that Obama won in 2012, and 47 lawmakers from districts that Mitt Romney won by less than 10 percentage points. In the previous Congress, just 17 Republican incumbents were in districts that Obama won and 44 in seats Romney won by less than 10 points.
The rise of swing-district Republicans could strengthen the hand of Speaker John Boehner against hard-line conservatives and create a new incentive for compromise with Democrats on issues with centrist appeal.
The GOP’s slimmer majority the past two years forced the speaker into repeated showdowns with tea party members whose overwhelmingly conservative districts insulated them from a political backlash. The incoming faction of moderate-minded lawmakers, enjoying no such cushion, will give Boehner more room to maneuver.
But this will create new complications for the GOP. The only question the past year was how many seats the party would seize from Democrats. Now the script is flipped. Even the most bullish Republicans acknowledge they’ve maxed out their majority and now must protect their politically vulnerable lawmakers, who will face pressure to distinguish themselves from the party’s conservative wing.
“Republicans won a larger majority, and that gives them more elbow room when it comes to negotiating. What the majority of the majority means today is different than what it meant yesterday,” said Brian Walsh, a former National Republican Congressional Committee political director who now heads a prominent House GOP-aligned super PAC. “I think where the difficulty presents itself is going to be on the big national issues, where the blue district members are going to have to defend themselves and break through their party.”
“It’s the big national issues that are going to create some divisions in the party,” he added. “And those will create some challenges.”
Those issues, Republicans say, include, most importantly, immigration, but also tax cuts and government spending.
...
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/the-obama-republicans-113221.html#ixzz3KiGMAESU
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/the-obama-republicans-113221.html#ixzz3KiG1FULt
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/the-obama-republicans-113221.html#ixzz3KiFqjjdv
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/the-obama-republicans-113221.html?hp=t2_r
<header style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: proxima-nova, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The Obama Republicans?More GOP House members must defend Democratic-friendly districts.
</header><footer class="meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: proxima-nova, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">By Alex Isenstadt (http://www.politico.com/reporters/AlexIsenstadt.html)
<time datetime="2014-11-30T20:33-05:00" style="box-sizing: border-box;">11/30/14 8:33 PM EST</time>
</footer>
About a week after the Republican midterm romp, nearly 20 soon-to-be House GOP freshmen huddled for a private lunch on the third floor of the Capitol Hill Club. The mood was jubilant: Each had prevailed in a swing district, exploiting deep unhappiness with President Barack Obama and angst over the country’s future.
But as they dug into platters of lasagna, salad and chicken, the newbies were given some sobering news. GOP officials explained that they would be among Democrats’ top 2016 targets — when they’d be up against a more diverse electorate — and they needed to start preparing now.
“The message,” said one aide who was in the room, “was, ‘Don’t bask in the glow of victory.’”
When the new Congress takes the oath in January, Republicans could occupy as many as 247 seats, giving them their most dominant House majority in over 80 years. But it will also usher in an expanded group of Republicans from Democratic-friendly districts, a shift, GOP operatives say, that will reorder the politics of the chamber.
The new Republican Conference will include 26 members from districts that Obama won in 2012, and 47 lawmakers from districts that Mitt Romney won by less than 10 percentage points. In the previous Congress, just 17 Republican incumbents were in districts that Obama won and 44 in seats Romney won by less than 10 points.
The rise of swing-district Republicans could strengthen the hand of Speaker John Boehner against hard-line conservatives and create a new incentive for compromise with Democrats on issues with centrist appeal.
The GOP’s slimmer majority the past two years forced the speaker into repeated showdowns with tea party members whose overwhelmingly conservative districts insulated them from a political backlash. The incoming faction of moderate-minded lawmakers, enjoying no such cushion, will give Boehner more room to maneuver.
But this will create new complications for the GOP. The only question the past year was how many seats the party would seize from Democrats. Now the script is flipped. Even the most bullish Republicans acknowledge they’ve maxed out their majority and now must protect their politically vulnerable lawmakers, who will face pressure to distinguish themselves from the party’s conservative wing.
“Republicans won a larger majority, and that gives them more elbow room when it comes to negotiating. What the majority of the majority means today is different than what it meant yesterday,” said Brian Walsh, a former National Republican Congressional Committee political director who now heads a prominent House GOP-aligned super PAC. “I think where the difficulty presents itself is going to be on the big national issues, where the blue district members are going to have to defend themselves and break through their party.”
“It’s the big national issues that are going to create some divisions in the party,” he added. “And those will create some challenges.”
Those issues, Republicans say, include, most importantly, immigration, but also tax cuts and government spending.
...
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/the-obama-republicans-113221.html#ixzz3KiGMAESU
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/the-obama-republicans-113221.html#ixzz3KiG1FULt
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/the-obama-republicans-113221.html#ixzz3KiFqjjdv