At this point in a midterm cycle, the Crystal Ball would normally lead off its analysis of the House landscape with a discussion about prospects for six year itches, open seats and early money. But alas, we've come to accept that nothing's quite normal in Washington these days--and the fixation...
Take a look at the table below, which illustrates changes in party control of Governorships from FDR to George W. Bush over a span of six decades (1942-2004). What do you see? As usual, it all depends on what you are looking for. Most election years, especially in the last...
Partisan redistricting almost everywhere keeps the House of Representatives from demonstrating much of a political trend, unless the winds of change are hurricane-force. Senate contests are frequently idiosyncratic, distorted by the intense effects of incumbency and the massive spending of the wealthy. Moreover, only a third of the states feature...
Every election year is different, and the results of midterm elections have varied dramatically. Still, can recent history suggest anything about the 2006 Senate results? At the very least, our modern electoral experience can set goals for Democrats and Republicans alike. Let's look at the last half-century of midterm elections...
All Crystal Ball junkies know the drill. Every election year, most Senators skate by, especially the venerable elders who well fit their states. Meanwhile, a handful of Senators are vulnerable, and those are the contests we watch like hawks. In last week's Crystal Ball email ( https://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/LJS2005032401), we examined seniority...
Recently, Congressional Quarterly reported a startling statistic that received little attention, but should have been the source of extensive commentary for what it told us about the contemporary institution of the United States Senate. The current 109th Congress has achieved a remarkable milestone: It has the oldest Senate ever! The...
Last week the Crystal Ball tackled the Democratic candidates for President in 2008--figuratively, at least (click here: https://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/LJS2005022401). Now we turn our attention to the possible Republican presidential wannabes. Before we analyze specific candidates, remember that in 2008 the GOP will be completing eight years as the governing party in...
And so it begins anew: the quadrennial orgy that eventually results in the birth of a president. Over the decades the presidential gestation period has lengthened dramatically. While the "hidden campaign" to be the next president has always consumed the entire term of the incumbent, only in the past couple...
Every four years the president treats the country to twinned rhetorical flourishes. First comes the poetry, in the form of the Inaugural Address. Then the prose follows, in the State of the Union address. Vigorous warfare between Democrats and Republicans has been waged without surcease, save for a few blessed...
As you know, we hate to boast, but the Crystal Ball was, to our knowledge, the only established, national political source to predict that Republican Dino Rossi would defeat Democrat Christine Gregoire in the Washington State governor's race. (If we ar e wrong, let us know and we will correct...
What an election! Whether you liked or disliked the outcome, surely you must agree that this contest will be remembered by history. We have not seen such intensity since 1968, and not coincidentally, the turnout of eligible adult Americans appears to have been larger in 2004 than any presidential year...
Partisan redistricting and the overwhelming power of incumbency makes it such that many of the 435 House races each year are either uncontested or finished well before they begin. Texas redistricting gave the GOP an edge in this year's battle for control of the House. The five Texas House races...
Building on the success from the 2002 midterm elections, the Crystal Ball correctly predicted 97 percent of Senate races. In the first hours of election night it was clear that Republicans would enlarge their majority in the upper chamber of Congress, but three contests gave the Crystal Ball a moment...
It's impossible to fully understand the results of the 2004 presidential election without first reexamining the 2000 results. The map created by the Bush-Gore race illustrated the country's division into the "tolerant" Blue States and the "traditional" Red States, and appeared to be one that would stay with us for...
In eleven gubernatorial races spread out from coast to coast, the Crystal Ball accurately forecast at least nine, with the match up between Democratic State Attorney General Christine Gregoire and Republican State Senator Dino Rossi still too close to call and possibly headed for a recount. So far the lone...
